Fitch said:
BohunkAg said:
cajunaggie08 said:
Number of new cases and percentage of positive tests are going up. Is that a fact or a feeling? Or is this continued increase due to 4th of july gatherings or continued protests.
PERCENTAGE OF POSITIVE TESTS IS A MEANINGLESS STAT
How so?
It's not any more a meaningless stat than it is a reason to panic.
Just observing the trends in daily case growth over time - it increased significantly and rapidly between roughly mid-May to mid-June. This should not surprise anyone in the least, as this is when we transitioned from nearly everything being shutdown to trying to get back to some sort of "normal" life.
Looking at the trends from mid-June to now - cases are still going up, but there is a lot more "noise" in the data, and the slope/rate isn't nearly as steep.
Again, for anyone with even half a brain, this shouldn't be a surprise. Cases are increasing because, as long as there is a virus, people will get it. And things aren't shutdown, so we're interacting with more people more often.
The other two stats we should be looking at are hospitalizations and death rates. But if hospitals can manage (i.e., enough PPE, staff, and beds), then there is no need to panic. It might be uncomfortable for them for a while, but that's what happens when you have an outbreak of a new virus.
Deaths are lagging way behind, but we aren't Italy or NYC, with refrigerated trucks acting as makeshift morgues in hospital parking lots.
But for the love of all that is holy, people need to stop fear mongering and/or acting like this is all some huge conspiracy. Because it's neither. It's a public health issue that should have everyone concerned and willing to do their part to keep it from spreading.