HOUSTON — State health officials issued a warning about a misleading chart making the rounds on social media with claims about COVID-19 and the flu.
The VERIFY team has the facts on the chart in question. The chart includes a variety of data, including the number of tests, cases and deaths associated with the flu and COVID-19.
But the Department of State Health Services said the data is misleading. Here's why.
The state said data in the charts was collected in different ways over different lengths of time, specifically, flu cases and deaths.
Over a year long period from 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019, it compares flu data from those times with COVID-19 data from the past seven months alone. DSHS calls comparing the two viruses this way is misleading.
And finally, the state said the chart is unauthorized, as in someone else created the chart, used the agency's logo and then shared it to look like it came from DSHS.
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