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bodhipooh t1_j5z179x wrote

It is a nice gesture, and commendable. Unfortunately, our stats (and those of most other countries now) are utterly useless in trying to gauge what is actually happening beyond some basic trends. If people are even testing when feeling sick (a big if) they are seldom reporting their results anywhere (whether positive or negative) and the result itself may not change their decision to go out or stay home. I have heard from multiple people that they have tested positive and they didnt think it was worth it or necessary to not go out. Some may not even wear a mask after testing positive and will instead try to keep their distance.

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Relative_Chef_533 OP t1_j5z23yc wrote

o_O

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jonhuang t1_j5zyspo wrote

They're right, but as a professional COVID tracker, thank you anyway! The best days for tracking now is probably hospitalizations, though it is slower than cases.

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gigiwasabi_jc t1_j5zdm8f wrote

I hear you, and I don’t disagree! Wastewater surveillance is more accurate but I don’t think we’re doing that here. (Correct me if I’m wrong!) And I think the current standard is to assume positivity rate is 3x what the official number is, because people test at home (or not at all).

Limiting transmission went out the window a long time ago. Like 2020. And public health has been made into a series of personal choices, but some people do use the official counts as a (imperfect but only) way to track surges and adjust their personal activities.

IME, there are people who just don’t give a fuck or believe it’s real etc etc but there are more people who want to do the right thing(s) but can’t (ex paid sick leave) or just don’t even know how/why (and you can’t blame them, not their fault). So for those people, I just try to share accurate info. Maybe that’s pointless. But maybe it’s a tiny ripple against misinformation? Dunno.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j627c1k wrote

Even in places they do wastewater surveillance they delay results by weeks for “privacy” even keeping it from health experts.

It’s good for research by epidemiologists but 2-3 weeks after is not really useful for being proactive, which is the real reason they don’t release it quickly.

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gigiwasabi_jc t1_j65ss9t wrote

Oh, interesting! I didn’t know about that lag, thank you.

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