Two Charts Tell Very Different Stories About How Biden Handled the Pandemic
The White House tweeted a chart Tuesday touting its progress on COVID-19, but critics were quick to highlight a different set of statistics.
SO WHAT
By many measures, President Joe Biden is failing to outperform the predecessor whose pandemic response he trashed as incompetent.
THE WHITE HOUSE’S TAKE
In the Twitter chart, the White House highlighted three coronavirus-related metrics that improved over the past year, claiming Biden’s “COVID-19 response has saved and continues to save lives.”
In one year, the Biden-Harris Administration has gotten 74% of adults fully vaccinated. @POTUS’s COVID-19 response has saved and continues to save lives. pic.twitter.com/D7yqZv68C1
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 18, 2022
The vaccination rate, the production of at-home tests and the proportion of open schools have all shot up during Biden’s first year in office.
OK, BUT
Biden critics on Twitter countered with various less-flattering numbers, including one mock White House chart.
https://t.co/xXZpSUZ6cc pic.twitter.com/agX6YMNZXH
— Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) January 18, 2022
The chart, posted by the popular @MidnightMitch account, showed that COVID-19 deaths have more than doubled since Biden took office.
THE QUOTE THAT SAYS IT ALL
Last month, Washington Post contributor Richard Morgan argued Biden has failed to live up to his campaign “promise to restore responsible management of the pandemic.”
- “Whatever differences Americans may think each president has had in their lives, their pandemic track records have been roughly equivalent: an average of 1,218 dead compatriots every day regardless of who is in power,” he wrote. “Nearly one death per minute. The most important immunity of our pandemic is this: The virus is immune to politics. Whether Britain or Israel, Australia or India, Japan or Spain, Sweden or Vietnam, no system of government has prevailed.”