COVID-19 (Wuhan Novel Coronavirus) Pandemic Master Thread

[biobook]

This is exactly what the CDC recommends...
On LabCorp test results it says CDC recommendation to take 2 or 3 tests bc otherwise you cant be sure 🤨

It's fine for a person to take multiple tests.
The problem is how those results were used in the FL Dept of Health's calculations. 

[Mikes@Micro]

It's fine for a person to take multiple tests.
The problem is how those results were used in the FL Dept of Health's calculations. 

Based on how hard it is to access the results I would say that no state really know who's who and being careful not to count twice.

[avromie7]

You may want to use the positivity rate to determine if enough tests are being done, but Governor DeSantis wanted to use it to determine the extent of community spread.  If it's <10%, covid's not spreading in the community, let's re-open. 

It doesn't matter if the same person got tested multiple times, but it does matter if those multiple tests are being used in the calculation of how extensively the virus has spread in the community.
Exactly.  Jones claims that the governor is relying on corrupted data.

I guess maybe there needs to be some balance, but if someone got tested in March and came back negative, there's no reason they shouldn't count again in June. If someone gets tested twice a week, in some way they're watering down the rate, but they should at least count for something. To completely remove anyone who gets tested often and only count them if they test positive would corrupt the data too.

Come to think of it, the reason NY has such a low positivity rate is probably because they make all nursing home staff get tested twice a week even if they have antibodies.

[avromie7]

Based on how hard it is to access the results I would say that no state really know who's who and being careful not to count twice.

NY was reportedly double counting people who tested positive multiple times

[Afrages6]

NY was reportedly double counting people who tested positive multiple times

That’s not true.

[ExGingi]

https://twitter.com/raoulgmi/status/1274511392993837057

Interesting thread.

[yuneeq]

The governor said the state can re-open when the positivity rate was below 10%.

Person A tests positive
Person B tests 10 times, all negative

Rebekah Jones would say the positivity rate is 50%. 
1 positive test/ 2 people tested

Her supervisors would say the positivity rate is 9%.
1 positive test/ 11 tests total

Above is for illustration.  IIRC their calculations were something like 12% vs 8%, when the governor said it's okay now to re-open.  Do you see a problem with that?

Another scenario - person tests negative, then positive, then a couple times negative. Even a positive case can have only 25% positive rate.

[avromie7]

That’s not true.

source?

[Lurker]

I guess maybe there needs to be some balance, but if someone got tested in March and came back negative, there's no reason they shouldn't count again in June. If someone gets tested twice a week, in some way they're watering down the rate, but they should at least count for something. To completely remove anyone who gets tested often and only count them if they test positive would corrupt the data too.

Come to think of it, the reason NY has such a low positivity rate is probably because they make all nursing home staff get tested twice a week even if they have antibodies.

These numbers are just another way for FL to put out useless data which inhibits the ability to get a clear picture of what's happening in the state. If the metric is to be used for anything, a total number shouldn't be used. It should be a rolling total over a certain period of time, with each individual counting once. For example, use a monthly stat, where you're saying X amount of people were tested, and X amount of people were positive. If someone was positive then negative, they should only count as 1 positive. If someone was negative 10 times in a month, they are still just one person testing negative.

[Ergel]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/21/us/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The media is so clueless. Why is this being portrayed as a bad thing?

[avromie7]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/21/us/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The media is so clueless. Why is this being portrayed as a bad thing?

It's called fake news

[Mikes@Micro]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/21/us/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The media is so clueless. Why is this being portrayed as a bad thing?

The article is barely readable looks like it was written by a robot or 3rd grader copy pasting blurbs from generic articles. I dont know how a human could possibly be so dumb.

[avromie7]

These numbers are just another way for FL to put out useless data which inhibits the ability to get a clear picture of what's happening in the state. If the metric is to be used for anything, a total number shouldn't be used. It should be a rolling total over a certain period of time, with each individual counting once. For example, use a monthly stat, where you're saying X amount of people were tested, and X amount of people were positive. If someone was positive then negative, they should only count as 1 positive. If someone was negative 10 times in a month, they are still just one person testing negative.

Let's not kid ourselves, NY is not exactly putting out accurate data either. They all fudge the numbers.

[CountValentine]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/21/us/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html
The media is so clueless. Why is this being portrayed as a bad thing?

Any increase in any demographic is not a good thing.

It's called fake news

Fake news that a different segment is getting hit harder now? 

[CountValentine]

The article is barely readable looks like it was written by a robot or 3rd grader copy pasting blurbs from generic articles. I dont know how a human could possibly be so dumb.

Maybe the person is just uneducated. 

[avromie7]

Fake news that a different segment is getting hit harder now? 

No, fake news that a shift toward younger people can somehow be a bad thing.

[PlatinumGuy]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china/beijing-can-screen-almost-1-million-people-daily-for-coronavirus-says-official-idUSKBN23S0GS

[yuneeq]

No, fake news that a shift toward younger people can somehow be a bad thing.

The number of cases are doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in these states, and young people make up a larger percentage of the increase. That is not a good thing unless you’re wearing Trump 2020 glasses.

[avromie7]

The number of cases are doubling, tripling, and quadrupling in these states, and young people make up a larger percentage of the increase. That is not a good thing unless you’re wearing Trump 2020 glasses.

Are you saying it would be better if the increase was older people?

[yuneeq]

3-4 months ago it was good news if you had enough testing available for both old and young people. You were able to monitor and inform people of the spread of Covid. Now it’s just sad that many states fully reopened with no precautions claiming they have testing under control, watch the cases spiral out of control, positive rate keeps climbing, then lie about increasing testing and younger demographics to pretend like nothing has changed. Meanwhile, hospitalizations are soaring despite efforts to keep the data under wraps, that tells us plenty about what direction these states are trending in.