PARTIES... HALF... COVID...

You see the article shared on facebook. A few of your friends shared it. Maybe they added no commentary, maybe they made a disappointed remark about how irresponsible people are being.

But how many ways are there to say these numbers?

So they're talking about nineteen cases - an odd number. They say half of them are from something that carries a very specific, and charged implication.

Half of an odd number has to be rounded one way or another.

So one reads the article, which is a lot of extra work honestly. Click away, scroll, I'm getting tired just typing it out.

And sure enough, we're talking about the smaller half: nine.

Nine of the nineteen cases are vaguely described as "linked to parties."

The other ten?

The big "half" of 19? From going to work.

Why isn't the headline "GOING BACK TO WORK TO BLAME FOR MORE THAN HALF OF NEW #COVID19 CASES REPORTED SATURDAY"

A decision was made on which cause to emphasize; to inflate 46% to "half" to treat it like it's at least as responsible to centre it as whatever the other cause or causes may be.

But there's only one cause mentioned besides "parties," and it accounts for MORE infections.

Those decisions aren't arbitrary, outcomes are being considered and opted for by @CTVNews and whoever else does this.

But it's so much more exciting to be dismayed and frustrated and disdainful of people who are being frivolous in our sight!

Like I don't think parties are a good idea these days... but I don't think patio restaurant meals are a good fuckin idea either and at least nobody's livelihood is being held hostage forcing the parties to happen. That at least is a freely taken risk.

Can the news cover that?

(I know it might seem odd to those of you who see this from the US to even be talking about single/double digit covid numbers but I'm pretty sure this is a microcosm of how media is encouraging discussion of the four and five digit covid cases, too)