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More actual questions: - how soon after exposure do you test positive (eg. if they went to the hospital, tested negative, then tested positive later there - we

More actual questions: - how soon after exposure do you test positive (eg. if they went to the hospital, tested negative, then tested positive later there - were they undetectably positive on the first test, or did they catch it in the hospital). - Why do we not separate hospitalized "by" and "with" covid (and same for deaths). If half of the hospitalized are there because of broken legs and appendicitis, they'd be there, covid or not. Same with deaths, if you get hit by a bus and die, 20 days after a positive test, you're counted as a covid death.

simonh 5y ago
Half the patients in hospitals over-run with covid patients are not there with broken legs and appendicitis. That's absurd. The numbers of such people are going to be reasonably well understood. This is why excess hospitalisations and deaths compared to seasonal norms are used as a reality check on the test numbers. Newspaper headlines might trumped specific numbers that are attention grabbing, but actual policy is driven by an assessment of all the available data.
- ajsnigrutin 5y ago
  But half of those people are there with broken legs and apendicitis. Only half of those stats are due to covid. As an invidual, every person in a hospital is too much... but when considering lockdowns, because there are (eg.) a 1000 people with covid in hospitals, it's worth to know if those people are there because of covid, or 560 of them would be there normally.
- nradov 5y ago
  In Santa Clara County COVID-19 deaths were originally over counted by 22% before they adjusted the methodology. Other public health agencies have had similar data quality problems. So not half, but a significant fraction. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/07/02/santa-clara-county-revises-covid-death-toll-down/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/07/02/santa-clara-cou...

simonh 5y ago

Half the patients in hospitals over-run with covid patients are not there with broken legs and appendicitis. That's absurd. The numbers of such people are going to be reasonably well understood. This is why excess hospitalisations and deaths compared to seasonal norms are used as a reality check on the test numbers. Newspaper headlines might trumped specific numbers that are attention grabbing, but actual policy is driven by an assessment of all the available data.

ajsnigrutin 5y ago
But half of those people are there with broken legs and apendicitis. Only half of those stats are due to covid. As an invidual, every person in a hospital is too much... but when considering lockdowns, because there are (eg.) a 1000 people with covid in hospitals, it's worth to know if those people are there because of covid, or 560 of them would be there normally.
nradov 5y ago
In Santa Clara County COVID-19 deaths were originally over counted by 22% before they adjusted the methodology. Other public health agencies have had similar data quality problems. So not half, but a significant fraction. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/07/02/santa-clara-county-revises-covid-death-toll-down/ https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/07/02/santa-clara-cou...