Cases rising or dropping by you?

[tvguy]

That is terrible reporting. Labor Day week had a slow down in test reports due to the holiday. A slow week followed by normal week equals a 10% increase? Nonsense.

Did you know that COVID-19 hospitalizations were below 29,000 for the first time since June 22?

200,000 dead. I am appalled we haven't done a better job of working to control covid-19.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

200,000 dead. I am appalled we haven't done a better job of working to control covid-19.

I don't disagree here it's terrible awful and basically inconceivable to have thought this many would die when this all started. On the other hand what's your response to the person's actual comment relating to hospitalization? Isn't that something we can find cautious hope about?

 

[Pyotr]

200,000 dead. I am appalled we haven't done a better job of working to control covid-19.

200,000 dead is horrible. It doesn’t excuse publishing misleading articles.

 

[JimMIA]

That is terrible reporting. Labor Day week had a slow down in test reports due to the holiday. A slow week followed by normal week equals a 10% increase? Nonsense.

Did you know that COVID-19 hospitalizations were below 29,000 for the first time since June 22?

Doesn't matter. It's typical TV "news" reporting. Facts are irrelevant -- it's all about the narrative...and the clicks.

 

[tvguy]

Doesn't matter. It's typical TV "news" reporting. Facts are irrelevant -- it's all about the narrative...and the clicks.

Sadly, too many people have dismissed this pandemic and ignored the facts.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Sadly, too many people have dismissed this pandemic and ignored the facts.

We are not united and that’s the biggest problem we have.

 

[JimMIA]

Sadly, too many people have dismissed this pandemic and ignored the facts.

I agree with you, but of course, that's not what we were talking about. The comment was about biased manipulation of the "news."

This is a typical CNN story where they select only those facts which feed their political narrative, rather than presenting the entire, balanced picture. Are there "facts" in the story? Sure. But only certain facts -- there is zero interest in presenting the full picture.

Journalism is dead. Now it's just about political narratives and clicks for revenue. That's not a problem that is unique to CNN; all of the media, across the political spectrum, does the same thing.

 

[EACarlson]

I agree with you, but of course, that's not what we were talking about. The comment was about biased manipulation of the "news."

This is a typical CNN story where they select only those facts which feed their political narrative, rather than presenting the entire, balanced picture. Are there "facts" in the story? Sure. But only certain facts -- there is zero interest in presenting the full picture.

Journalism is dead. Now it's just about political narratives and clicks for revenue. That's not a problem that is unique to CNN; all of the media, across the political spectrum, does the same thing.

I have heard that the new WGN news program is much better in this regard. I have not taken the time to record and watch it yet, but I did just set my DVR to record tonight.

 

[JimMIA]

I have heard that the new WGN news program is much better in this regard. I have not taken the time to record and watch it yet, but I did just set my DVR to record tonight.

Thanks, I'll check it out. I wish they published their stories on their webpage instead of having to watch them.

I usually read across a wide variety of sources and try to sort out a sensible idea of what's really going on. I especially like Real Clear Politics (leans conservative) and Politico (leans liberal), because both feature articles from all points of view. I often find that international sources have a more balanced perspective.

Occasionally, I'll check Fox or MSNBC, but whenever I do, I always think to myself, "Let's see what the crazies are saying!" Both are laughable, in a sad way.

 

[tvguy]

I agree with you, but of course, that's not what we were talking about. The comment was about biased manipulation of the "news."

This is a typical CNN story where they select only those facts which feed their political narrative, rather than presenting the entire, balanced picture. Are there "facts" in the story? Sure. But only certain facts -- there is zero interest in presenting the full picture.

Journalism is dead. Now it's just about political narratives and clicks for revenue. That's not a problem that is unique to CNN; all of the media, across the political spectrum, does the same thing.

I would say Journalism is dying because people will believe a Social Media post over the truth

 

[RamblingMad]

I agree with you, but of course, that's not what we were talking about. The comment was about biased manipulation of the "news."

This is a typical CNN story where they select only those facts which feed their political narrative, rather than presenting the entire, balanced picture. Are there "facts" in the story? Sure. But only certain facts -- there is zero interest in presenting the full picture.

Journalism is dead. Now it's just about political narratives and clicks for revenue. That's not a problem that is unique to CNN; all of the media, across the political spectrum, does the same thing.

This is why I stick to my MedCram videos for reporting on this pandemic. It’s pretty much apolitical.

 

[RamblingMad]

I would say Journalism is dying because people will believe a Social Media post over the truth

Check out the book: Thinking Fast and Slow. It helps explain why this occurs.

 

[tvguy]

Check out the book: Thinking Fast and Slow. It helps explain why this occurs.

Just finished my Willie Mays book. I will check this out. It is on Kindle so I can download it,

 

[Simba's Mom]

My state has been over 20% positivity rate this week.

I have trouble understanding why a low positivity rate is important. In our county, you have to pay for your own covid test (maybe insurance helps some people), yet we have one of the highest rates of both poverty and uninsured, so no one here wants to spend the money unless they feel they have to. Yet, DS, who lives in New York, just went and got tested for free-no symptoms. In our county you have to have symptoms, or they won't even let you spend the money for a test. Also, we have a very high rate of illegals/undocumented (choose what word you prefer), and since once you get tested, if you're positive, the government "knows and starts checking"-contract tracing, # of cases, etc., some people are hesitant to get tested and "get in the system". So our county seems doomed to a high positivity rate, even if all else is relatively great. Maybe your states positivity rate is based on things it can't change.

 

[JimMIA]

I have trouble understanding why a low positivity rate is important. In our county, you have to pay for your own covid test (maybe insurance helps some people), yet we have one of the highest rates of both poverty and uninsured, so no one here wants to spend the money unless they feel they have to. Yet, DS, who lives in New York, just went and got tested for free-no symptoms. In our county you have to have symptoms, or they won't even let you spend the money for a test. Also, we have a very high rate of illegals/undocumented (choose what word you prefer), and since once you get tested, if you're positive, the government "knows and starts checking"-contract tracing, # of cases, etc., some people are hesitant to get tested and "get in the system". So our county seems doomed to a high positivity rate, even if all else is relatively great. Maybe your states positivity rate is based on things it can't change.

Here's an example of the importance of the positivity rate.

• On Friday, September 18, the news media were hyping 3,500+ NEW CASES in Florida , which was an increase from previous days.
• Yesterday, September 20, everything was wonderful because we had only 1,685 cases

So what happened?

The answer is nothing. The two days were virtually equal, but the one difference was not the rate of infections, but the level of testing. As you can see below, on Friday, we had 75,000+ test results; on Sunday we had half as many tests. But the positivity rates were almost identical.




In your particular situation, the restrictions, costs, and legal implications with testing really limit the relevance of the results.

You can compare apples to apples using positivity rates, but I doubt if your testing results really give a clear picture of the community at large. Low income communities tend to be hit harder and those are the populations which are not being heavily tested in your county for a variety of reasons.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I have trouble understanding why a low positivity rate is important. In our county, you have to pay for your own covid test (maybe insurance helps some people), yet we have one of the highest rates of both poverty and uninsured, so no one here wants to spend the money unless they feel they have to. Yet, DS, who lives in New York, just went and got tested for free-no symptoms. In our county you have to have symptoms, or they won't even let you spend the money for a test. Also, we have a very high rate of illegals/undocumented (choose what word you prefer), and since once you get tested, if you're positive, the government "knows and starts checking"-contract tracing, # of cases, etc., some people are hesitant to get tested and "get in the system". So our county seems doomed to a high positivity rate, even if all else is relatively great. Maybe your states positivity rate is based on things it can't change.

That's where targeted testing should be done. In my area there are pockets of large percentage of Hispanics, and not a generalized statement but a factual one relevant to my area, they are often in a higher poverty rate, tend to not have insurance, some do not speak English very well (so signage has been placed in Spanish to assist in that) and also work often in high-risk sectors. In my area they've done free testing targeted towards groups and one of them are these is Hispanics. Their positivity rate is on average higher. That may sound bad and it's not necessarily good BUT it can mean a given area needs to step up to help out in the spread. Maybe this is offering free masks out, encouraging more free testing to allow for catching of the virus faster to isolate those individuals (hopefully), maybe it's helping on the education front about the virus give more tips on combating it, etc.

Sounds like your area just isn't equipped to be able to be able to do this. However, I wouldn't say that all else is relatively great in your county if you're still that restricted on testing supplies that your area cannot or isn't offering some form of free testing even if more restricted than a paid one. Your numbers, whether you're talking about positivity, case amounts, demographics, and seemingly unchecked spread (because not enough is being done to catch individuals who may be spreading it, knowingly or unknowingly) all point to things NOT being relatively great in your county. We know from many other areas minorities tend to be hit harder than Caucasians. But your area is getting a more skewed (because unfortunately every area's situation is skewed one way or another) than other areas on the COVID situation.

You're not doomed to have a high positivity rate just because of the way your area is testing. You may have a high positivitiy rate regardless because of the demographics of your area and/or the spread occurring faster than containment. But your area can't know that at this point which one it is because it is still very limiting. For most everywhere the positivity rate helps the Health Department and other departments and local leaders know if their area has a better handle on the virus and where there's room for improvement but that positivity rate at this point is more helpful to them because their testing capabilities and strategies have become far more open than they were back in Spring when virtually everyone was only testing if you met very specific criteria due to testing supply restrictions. Your area seems to be more stuck in the Spring mode.

 

[EACarlson]

I have trouble understanding why a low positivity rate is important. In our county, you have to pay for your own covid test (maybe insurance helps some people), yet we have one of the highest rates of both poverty and uninsured, so no one here wants to spend the money unless they feel they have to. Yet, DS, who lives in New York, just went and got tested for free-no symptoms. In our county you have to have symptoms, or they won't even let you spend the money for a test. Also, we have a very high rate of illegals/undocumented (choose what word you prefer), and since once you get tested, if you're positive, the government "knows and starts checking"-contract tracing, # of cases, etc., some people are hesitant to get tested and "get in the system". So our county seems doomed to a high positivity rate, even if all else is relatively great. Maybe your states positivity rate is based on things it can't change.

Positivity rate is the only metric that can be used reliably across geographic areas. If you look at @JimMIA 's chart above FL is averaging somwhere around 50,000 test results a day. In WI we are averaging about 12,000. So the 3,500 positive cases in FL looks much worse than the 2,000 in WI.

Here, the state has set up National Guard run free testing centers in many counties that do not require a medical provider order for the test, and many local colleges and universities are doing similar. I believe the largest reason for the increase in confirmed cases is that just about every college student in the state is able to or been required to get a no cost test. In order to get a test from one of the two health systems in town you need an order from a provider, which are not supposed to be given to asymptomatic people. The numbers in most other groups are staying fairly steady, but there has been a huge increase in cases in both the 10-19 and 20-29 age range. I live a half mile from a 10,000 student state university, they are now up to 4% of the student body has tested positive on campus in the last week.

 

[disneychrista]

I have trouble understanding why a low positivity rate is important.

It is just ONE PART of the overall picture.

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

200,000 dead. I am appalled we haven't done a better job of working to control covid-19.

I agree it’s terrible. 1 death is 1 too many; however, weren’t original predictions estimated at 1.2 - 2 million? Also, you have to take into account the
50-60,000 potentially preventable nursing home deaths.

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

It’s hard to assess. Texas, last week, retracted their peak positivity rate from 25% to 12% due to a “coding” error. Collin County in Texas had over 4600 cases. After thorough investigation, cases dropped from 4600 and something to 100. They admitted to overestimating numbers by 5600.