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Top state official caught using 'doctored' chart, data to push face mask mandate
Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman presented a coronavirus case chart to the media last week to contrast Kansas counties abiding by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's mask mandate and those that have not, The Sentinel reported.
Norman claimed that counties abiding by the mandate are "winning the battle," suggesting that counties that have not followed the mandate are losing.
"All of the improvement in the case development comes from those counties wearing masks," Norman said, The Sentinel reported.
However, Norman's claim only appeared true because he manipulated his chart to create the illusion that counties following the mask mandate are successfully warding off coronavirus.
Norman claimed that counties abiding by the mandate are "winning the battle," suggesting that counties that have not followed the mandate are losing.
"All of the improvement in the case development comes from those counties wearing masks," Norman said, The Sentinel reported.
However, Norman's claim only appeared true because he manipulated his chart to create the illusion that counties following the mask mandate are successfully warding off coronavirus.
Norman used an axis with a range of 15 to 25 to describe the number of new cases in masked counties and used a range of 4 to 14 to describe the number of new cases in counties without a mask mandate, making it appear as though counties without a mask mandate had more cases. When the two sets of data are placed on a chart with the same axis, counties without a mask mandate have fewer new cases per day than counties with a mask mandate.
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