Rawstory.com is a reliably liberal site with the absolute worst copy editors and proofreaders on the web (if they have any at all). Usually their errors are merely annoying, like overreliance on spell-checking software, misusing homonyms like principal/principle or leaving out the little words that make a collection of words a sentence.
This morning, however, in an article headed “Top 100 counties with the highest COVID death rates voted for Trump by 18 points” they posted the following:
Jerauld County, South Dakota had the highest death rate in the country, with 79.4 deaths per every 1,000 residents. Foard County, Texas had the second highest death rate at 77.9 deaths per every 1,000 residents.
That is to say, they think nearly 8 percent of the populations of these two counties have died of Covid-19.
FALSE! If you refer back to the article, you’ll find they meant to say 79.4 and 77.9 deaths per 10,000 residents — less than one percent. Still the highest in the nation, but not — literally — decimating the population.
Jeezh, guys! Pay attention to what you’re doing!