37 ms·

Number of specimens tested for SARS-CoV-2 in U.S.

37 points by kamaraju 7y ago

justinyan 7y ago
The Atlantic has an effort to break this tracking down on a state-by-state basis (https://covidtracking.com/data/ https://covidtracking.com/data/) which definitely has some interesting nuggets and gives some color on how they arrive at their numbers on a per-state basis.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  Opening this gives a glimpse into the nightmare that must be collecting and organizing these statistics. You can see that every state has a different method for presenting infection and testing stats. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to get to consistent data over the whole world.
- city41 7y ago
  BNO has also done this, in a more concise format: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2019/12/tracking-coronavirus-u-s-data/ https://bnonews.com/index.php/2019/12/tracking-coronavirus-u... They also have good worldwide data: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus-cases/ https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus...
philshem 7y ago
Don't be dismayed by html tables... import pandas as pd df = pd.read_html('https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/testing-in-us.html') print(df[0]) requires pip install pandas html5lib lxml
ajross 7y ago
At this point it seems like the CDC has just capitulated and stopped trying, figuring that the private labs will pick up the slack. There are real, technical details to debate (e.g. the manufacturing error on their first test kit), but at this point it's simple misadministration. If there was ever a clear case for the "You had one job." meme, this is it. Epidemic and pandemic response is the reason the Center for Disease Control exists at all. And they... they didn't.
- bloopernova 7y ago
  Unfortunately the CDC's existence, purpose, and funding is controlled by the government. Thus any discussion of their actions becomes embroiled in the political tribalism that dominates comments. The staunch defenders of the current administration are often successful at shutting down criticism of their leader and their party's actions. Which is doing this country a huge disservice because right now we need to be fixing these issues, not continually arguing about blame.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  This highlights a really common problem with many administrations -- where funding is brought down to a level where you can 'operate' the public good, but at best it's brittle and at worst it's actively damaging the people its meant to serve. Once the brittle thing is broken, this is used as an example of why government fails or why we shouldn't fund public goods. The American idea of social/public housing is a poster child for this, but you are seeing it with the CDC today as well.
grandmczeb 7y ago
This page says it includes public health labs, but as far as I know quite a bit of the US' testing capacity is private labs (at least 30% according to [1].) Does anyone know if those are included here? And if not, where a good total count can be found? [1] https://twitter.com/COVID2019tests/status/1239231234825490437?s=20 https://twitter.com/COVID2019tests/status/123923123482549043...
avip 7y ago
I don't think number of tests is of much interest currently - it's not very important, in terms of required action, if US has 10k or 100k infected.
- zamadatix 7y ago
  It tells you if you need 10x as many people under hospital care at the peak or not.
  - avip 7y ago
    No. It tells you if you'll have 10mm in 30d or 20d. (assuming business as usual)
    - zamadatix 7y ago
      It doesn't matter if 10mm is in 30 days or 20 days it matters if when you hit 10mm you expect to need 10x as many beds or not which you can tell by taking used beds/actively infected people. In use beds is easy to gather but if we can't accurately gather infected people we have no way to accurately predict if we have enough beds for the given expected peak. The peak can be moved and lowered if needed but it comes at great cost so nobody will want to do it without data.
forkexec 7y ago
IIRC, this doesn't count states' numbers, this only the CDC's numbers.
dboreham 7y ago
See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22567004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22567004

37 points by kamaraju 7y ago

The Atlantic has an effort to break this tracking down on a state-by-state basis (https://covidtracking.com/data/ https://covidtracking.com/data/) which definitely has some interesting nuggets and gives some color on how they arrive at their numbers on a per-state basis.

Pfhreak 7y ago
Opening this gives a glimpse into the nightmare that must be collecting and organizing these statistics. You can see that every state has a different method for presenting infection and testing stats. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to get to consistent data over the whole world.
city41 7y ago
BNO has also done this, in a more concise format: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2019/12/tracking-coronavirus-u-s-data/ https://bnonews.com/index.php/2019/12/tracking-coronavirus-u... They also have good worldwide data: https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus-cases/ https://bnonews.com/index.php/2020/02/the-latest-coronavirus...

philshem 7y ago

Don't be dismayed by html tables... import pandas as pd df = pd.read_html('https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/testing-in-us.html') print(df[0]) requires pip install pandas html5lib lxml

ajross 7y ago

At this point it seems like the CDC has just capitulated and stopped trying, figuring that the private labs will pick up the slack. There are real, technical details to debate (e.g. the manufacturing error on their first test kit), but at this point it's simple misadministration. If there was ever a clear case for the "You had one job." meme, this is it. Epidemic and pandemic response is the reason the Center for Disease Control exists at all. And they... they didn't.

bloopernova 7y ago
Unfortunately the CDC's existence, purpose, and funding is controlled by the government. Thus any discussion of their actions becomes embroiled in the political tribalism that dominates comments. The staunch defenders of the current administration are often successful at shutting down criticism of their leader and their party's actions. Which is doing this country a huge disservice because right now we need to be fixing these issues, not continually arguing about blame.
Pfhreak 7y ago
This highlights a really common problem with many administrations -- where funding is brought down to a level where you can 'operate' the public good, but at best it's brittle and at worst it's actively damaging the people its meant to serve. Once the brittle thing is broken, this is used as an example of why government fails or why we shouldn't fund public goods. The American idea of social/public housing is a poster child for this, but you are seeing it with the CDC today as well.

grandmczeb 7y ago

This page says it includes public health labs, but as far as I know quite a bit of the US' testing capacity is private labs (at least 30% according to [1].) Does anyone know if those are included here? And if not, where a good total count can be found? [1] https://twitter.com/COVID2019tests/status/1239231234825490437?s=20 https://twitter.com/COVID2019tests/status/123923123482549043...

avip 7y ago

I don't think number of tests is of much interest currently - it's not very important, in terms of required action, if US has 10k or 100k infected.

zamadatix 7y ago
It tells you if you need 10x as many people under hospital care at the peak or not.
- avip 7y ago
  No. It tells you if you'll have 10mm in 30d or 20d. (assuming business as usual)
  - zamadatix 7y ago
    It doesn't matter if 10mm is in 30 days or 20 days it matters if when you hit 10mm you expect to need 10x as many beds or not which you can tell by taking used beds/actively infected people. In use beds is easy to gather but if we can't accurately gather infected people we have no way to accurately predict if we have enough beds for the given expected peak. The peak can be moved and lowered if needed but it comes at great cost so nobody will want to do it without data.

forkexec 7y ago

IIRC, this doesn't count states' numbers, this only the CDC's numbers.

dboreham 7y ago

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22567004 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22567004