I'm not saying eliminate the multiples completely, I'm just saying revise it down to maybe 4x or 3x to account for people who are showing up at the doctor because of a cold, strep, the flu, or other seasonal issues, and are now testing when they wouldn't have otherwise.
I'm the last person to start downplaying Covid. My personal opinion is that less weight should be given to case counts right now, and more attention should be focused on hospitalizations and positivity rates.
The inverse may be true as well. People are more likely to chalk it up to a cold/flu/other virus now that other things are going around.
Hospitalizations always follow cases, so the cases need to be given their proper weight so we don’t reach the point of hospitalizations. Positivity numbers are completely disregarded around town because most people don’t grasp the fundamentals of a positivity rate.
Total cases estimated by CHEMED is a fairly accurate way to gauge current spread, and they should use positivity in their calculation as well. The theory of more asymptomatic/lightly symptomatic people testing because of other viruses is certainly
possible, but unlikely to skew the numbers in either direction too much in the grand scheme of things. Viruses go around in lots of places.