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Because of course the @washingtonpost never, ever downplayed the risk of COVID-19. "Conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic." https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/25/fox-news-hannity-coronavirus-misinformation/
Compare and contrast: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/time-for-a-reality-check-america-the-flu-is-a-much-bigger-threat-than-coronavirus-for-now/2020/01/31/46a15166-4444-11ea-b5fc-eefa848cde99_story.html
No, it wasn't just @seanhannity who dismissed the threat of a pandemic back in January and February. Let's also remember this February 3 gem from the @washingtonpost : https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/02/03/why-we-should-be-wary-an-aggressive-government-response-coronavirus/
And the Post was not alone. On January 29 the @nytimes had helpfully warned us to "beware the pandemic panic": https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/opinion/coronavirus-panic.html
On February 5, the Times dismissed the ban on Chinese citizens flying into the U.S. as an “extreme reaction” unwarranted by evidence—a “top-down decision” that could “morph into outright racism within the general population.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/opinion/china-travel-coronavirus.html
On February 6, the Daily Beast complained that ”Coronavirus, with zero American fatalities, is dominating headlines, while the flu is the real threat.” https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1225937322694381568
As late as March 4, @andersoncooper was telling viewers of Anderson Cooper 360 on @CNN : "If you’re freaked out at all about the coronavirus, you should be more concerned about the flu." https://dailycaller.com/2020/03/21/flashback-cnn-anderson-cooper-flu-coronavirus/
And let's not forget @voxdotcom. "Is this going to be a deadly pandemic?" Vox tweeted on January 31. "No." Since deleted but preserved here: https://twitter.com/RepGosar/status/1242625203844325376
And on February 7, Vox made it clear that anti-Chinese xenophobia was the thing we really needed to worry about: https://www.vox.com/2020/2/7/21126758/coronavirus-xenophobia-racism-china-asians
Still waiting for the social science paper on the impact of this kind of article on the behavior of consumers of liberal media back when the virus was spreading exponentially in New York: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-spread.html Not holding my breath, though.
