CNN slips up, quickly covers to make enterovirus outbreak into a non-issue

Sometimes the information managers on Team Obama get careless, and a piece of information gets into print before they can stop it.  That appears to be the case in CNN's reporting on enterovirus D68.  Here's what CNN had to say on September 9th:

It's a type of enterovirus that's uncommon but not new.  It was first identified in the 1960s and there have been fewer than 100 reported cases since that time

So...this particular variant has only caused 100 cases since 1962.  But just a week later--September 16th--here's CNN again.  See if you can spot the difference.

(CNN) -- Since mid-August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 100 cases of Enterovirus D68 in 12 states: Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New York and Oklahoma.

Enteroviruses are very common, especially in the early fall. The CDC estimates that 10 million to 15 million infections occur in the United States each year.

Wow, now the CDC estimates that "enteroviruses" cause ten to 15 million infections every year??  Gosh, that seems odd, since just a week earlier CNN reported that only 100 cases had been reported since 1962.  What could account for such a huge discrepancy? 

What this is is damage control.  CNN's earlier story--only 100 cases since 1962--accidentally made it clear that Obama's order to let 66,000 illegal immigrant kids into the country was a disaster, because there have now been well over a hundred cases in just the past four months.  And we're not even close to stopping the spread.

The story had to be countered, and fast, or the Democrats were gonna lose even worse in November.  Solution!  Run a story that makes it look like the new cases are totally, ridiculously insignificant.  They did it by blurring the difference between the D68 strain of the virus and other, far less dangerous enteroviruses.  By noting that "enteroviruses are very common" and "cause 10 to 15 million infections in the U.S. every year" the average reader is persuaded that there's no real danger.

And just like that, a potentially costly issue becomes a non-issue.