As virus grows, governors rely on misleading hospital data

Governors in states seeing huge spikes in the coronavirus often downplay the outbreak by citing statewide data to assure the public they have plenty of hospital capacity to survive the onslaught of cases. But experts say those numbers are often misleading in guiding decisions on whether to keep open a state during the pandemic.” Several states in the South and West are behind a big surge in COVID-19 cases. Statewide data can overlook places where hubs of the illness are filling hospitals.