I thought I was paranoid, but I bow to your skills. :-)

If I walked the earth looking for someone who really cared about the date field in some state's pandemic database, I think it would be a long walk.

Nobody cared in advance; I'm assuming it is a manufactured controversy, but I'm just speculating that it started with a database of dirt on public employees that someone used to create the situation, as part of long running efforts to create chaos. Not with some random person doing something for no reason.