I don't think the positive case count, death toll, or transmission rates are a hoax at all, they're very real...and it's a serious thing we're dealing with here.
The "misleading" aspect comes into play when they continue to incessantly compare it to the Spanish Flu to promote a pro-lockdown narrative, when the numbers would suggest that it's more comparable to the H2N2 or H3N2 pandemics of the 50's and 60's.
Or when talking heads like Cuomo go on the air and bash people for being "anti-science", when, during his family's Covid encounter, used Homeopathy, "Oxygenated Herbs", avoiding GMOs, and bleach baths to try to treat it.
While, in terms of the pure science, the left has been more aligned with it than the right, they don't do themselves any favors with their lack of consistency.
If they wanted more credibility on the matter, there's a couple of key strategic approaches that should've been employed:
1) Criticize the protests as much as they did beach gatherings.
2) Hold all well-known public figures to scientific standards. (Meaning, don't try to shine a spotlight on "how silly conservatives are for buying into hydroxychloroquine" while simultaneously revering someone who thinks that homeopathy and "chiropractic adjustments" and "avoiding GMO foods" offer any sort of protection"...in more plain terms...anyone using homeopathy to treat covid is just as far away from science is Donald and his "droxy treats")
3) Stop intentionally trying to draw parallels between Covid and the worst pandemic in the 20th century to promote a narrative (when there are other pandemics it's much closer to in terms of stats) of "we need to lock down"
4) Stop giving a pass to people within their own political factions for blatantly idiotic moves. For instance, if there was a governor who was sending people back into nursing homes after testing positive, when "we know this is more deadly for older people and people with preexisting conditions than everyone else" is one of the very few things universally agreed upon by both sides and the experts, stop acting like he's doing "such a great job in comparison to other governors".
5) Stop using masks as a political symbol (granted, both sides are guilty of that one, as people refusing masking is just as political as the people posting selfies of themselves wearing one along in their car)
6) Have a more consistent news cycle. CNN's reporting was beyond predictable of the last few months. On days when certain covid metrics were up, they'd focus exclusively on covid, on days when they were down, they focused exclusively on social justice type narratives. If covid is "the biggest story out there", then a day when the death rate goes down, it should be big news, on those days, CNN would post local stories about how "random woman calls cops on black guy in the park for throwing a Frisbee".
7) Stop trying to use a pandemic to check boxes off of a political wish list. When prominent democrats (and there have been multiple) have publicly said "this is a good opportunity for us to accomplish some of the things we've been trying to do for years", it's not a good look.
