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Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski
So I never even took a bio course after 10th grade- I know nothing. But today I was reading about Michigan's new case numbers. They are up 50%, from almost 200 a day to over 300. Some increase had to be expected with opening, so that doesn't seem too worrisome. But also I read that the % positive number has been static- so that means the increase is really that more tests are occurring, I think?
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I don't think that's quite right. When there's less testing to go around, testing is limited to people who are more likely sick. (Extreme examples from a few months ago: Initially, tests were only used on people who had been in China, and later to people who were presenting at hospitals with symptoms.) So you would expect that as you test more people, the positive rate should drop. Obviously, it depends on how people get tested, because it's not a random sample of the population.
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I know lots of people early on before tests were available that were almost certainly positive, but just shook it off.
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FWIW, I know a lot of people who have thought they got it early, and not one of them seems to have actually had it. There are flus, too.
My oldest is working in a grocery store in LA and living in group housing, not exactly a low-risk profile these days, and he called us Saturday with what sounded like Covid symptoms. We were sure he had it. But, the test was negative.
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But what is most f'ed up to me, lots of math and engineering and 10th grade bio, I have to figure out what the news means myself. Maybe Whitmer is explaining these issues, her conferences are not that highlighted. Ain't nothing out of DC. I did not vote for Whitmer but like her response these months, but someone has to start explaining what shit means. People hear "numbers are up*" without perspective, that ain't good.
*this rant is limited to Michigan, not the states clearly exploding for the first time.
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Yeah, I share this beef. The basic coverage of what's happening and what it means is really lacking.
