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  2020-07-27

  Confusion on the Plains

  These screenshots of the Kansas Health Secretary's Twitter account highlight the mixed messages that have come to characterize the efforts to combat the coronavirus in the summer of 2020. Just days before, the virus had been "gaining speed," and Kansas was "heading in the wrong direction," but by July 26th, the state's infection rate appeared to be "leveling off a bit." Although he presses Kansans to adhere strictly to all mitigation practices, these messages reflect the jarring effects of instantaneous communication and data analysis as medical professionals and ordinary citizens alike struggle to accurately comprehend the real-time scope and spread of COVID-19; a disease that had been completely unknown just a year before.