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cmrdgkr t1_ixy69mz wrote

Reply to comment by West-Ad8798 in S.Korea's new COVID-19 cases in 50,000 range amid winter resurgence worries by 4inalfantasy

Because they're still testing. Other countries probably have this much as well but they're not doing that much official testing and tracking.

Just left Korea for the UK. It's completely different here. If I get COVID here, and it isn't serious enough for hospitalisation, I don't think anyone is even going to know or record it.

Also population density doesn't help.

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djb1983CanBoy t1_ixy8zac wrote

I got covid a couple months ago for the first time. I looked into telling the government - found out theres no way to do it.

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alien_from_Europa t1_ixyunuy wrote

>found out theres no way to do it.

For US:

You just call/message your primary care provider and they'll either order additional testing for you at your doctor's office if you're sick or you can get lab testing at nearby pharmacies.

>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “strongly encourages” everyone who self-tests to report their positive results to a health care provider, who may order a P.C.R. test or otherwise report the data to state authorities. But only a few state health departments, including those in Colorado and Washington, collect data from home tests. Others, like in Massachusetts and New York, allow individual county health departments to decide whether they want to collect home test results.

https://archive.ph/bj0Rk

But yes, doctors are only required to report lab tests to the CDC.

>CDC strongly encourages everyone who uses a self-test to report any positive results to their healthcare provider. Healthcare providers can ensure that those who have tested positive for COVID-19 receive the most appropriate medical care, including specific treatments if necessary.

>In most jurisdictions, healthcare providers who diagnose COVID-19 are required to report those cases to public health.

>The US Government does not want to construct any barriers that would deter the use of self-tests.  COVID-19 surveillance continues to be based on results from laboratory testing. The primary role of case reporting is to allow public health agencies to take actions to mitigate disease spread. The public health community, including CDC, is confident that situational awareness remains strong without receiving self-test results.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/self-testing.html

In Massachusetts, for example, you can use the state's app to share your test anonymously, but it won't be counted towards official numbers.

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/share-your-positive-covid-test-anonymously-with-massnotify

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N8CCRG t1_ixyynmd wrote

My parents live in a rural red county. They got COVID (verified by at home testing) about a month ago. They were planning on just toughing it out, but I bullied them into at least contacting their primary care physician to inform them and under the assumption the PCP would report the result. The PCP requested no lab testing or anything though, and I have no idea if they reported the cases or not.

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AustinLurkerDude t1_iy231gi wrote

There's also ppl with no PCP or health insurance who don't bother getting lab tests

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Gabbstah t1_ixyjwr1 wrote

Lol what? I live in S Korea and there's a million avenues for reporting covid. My local city hall has a direct line specifically for reporting personal cases if you tested at home.

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djb1983CanBoy t1_ixz8naz wrote

Ontario, canada. We have a trump-light premier of our province, doug ford. You might have heard of his brother, rob ford, the crack smoking mayor of toronto who died a few years ago, Rob Ford.

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KeythKatz t1_ixyw5kk wrote

I was just in Korea for a few weeks, I hate how emergency mobile alert broadcasts were abused daily or every few hours just to tell people how many local cases there were.

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Leading-Two5757 t1_ixzb22w wrote

And now you’re reading headlines about a surge in cases. Almost as if they saw an emergency coming.

How dare they use an emergency system to portray a coming emergency. Shame on them.

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KeythKatz t1_ixzg806 wrote

A surge in cases is no longer an emergency as in 2020. Is using an emergency system to basically broadcast regular news, causing some to turn off the alerts entirely, in a locality where storms and tsunamis matter, not counter to the point of having an emergency system? The broadcasts weren't even large numbers, more like "there were 8 cases in your neighbourhood yesterday" and "here is your nearest vaccination center", as 2 separate alerts.

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natsunshine t1_ixz85q6 wrote

If you tested positive for PCR and provided your home address, then your info & test results will go directly to your local health department & state health department through electronic lab reporting. There’s no need to call them because most of them will not take at-home results.

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djb1983CanBoy t1_ixz998m wrote

We dont have any states in canada.

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natsunshine t1_ixz9y0u wrote

Pretty sure Canada has electronic lab reportings because it has a more advanced epi system than the US. We envy your universal healthcare.

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djb1983CanBoy t1_ixzak4s wrote

Its not as great as its crcked up to be, but i never think about going to my doctor, as it costs nothing.

If i test positive with a takehome test, they say to stay home, and only certain groups of the population have ever been eligible to get lab tests.

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Gb_packers973 t1_iy0oso8 wrote

Thats the beauty of the push for rapid test kits.

Our country would be screwed if everyone was still PcRing. The numbers would be insane.

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LimaBeansAreGood t1_ixydotm wrote

Eh. I’m an ICU nurse in the US. We’re getting a hospitalization spike, it’s just not bad enough to hit the news yet.

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cmrdgkr t1_ixyejev wrote

I never said you weren't getting a hospitalization spike. But if 100,000 people got covid today and in the US 1000 went to the hospital, then the US might only think they've got 1000 new cases because that's all they track. In Korea they still track positive tests regardless of whether or not you went to the hospital. That's why certain countries are still showing large numbers like this because they're tracking all cases, not just the ones that wind up in hospital.

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Flymia t1_iy1xlvm wrote

I went to a PCR test ran by Miami-Dade County in September. Was positive, got a call from the Florida Dept. of Health the next day.

The numbers are a lot higher, but with vaccinations, and prior infections, serious illness is not showing as much, and tons of people just never test, or just test at home. People are more worried about the FLU and RSV right now.

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TailRudder t1_ixyjtev wrote

That's not what he's saying though. The tracking mechanisms have been greatly diminished.

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alien_from_Europa t1_ixyz025 wrote

>it’s just not bad enough to hit the news yet.

Here's the official data from the HHS data hub in the US:

Number Type 🏥 %
692,244 Inpatient Beds 5,293 Hospitals N/A
511,596 Inpatient Beds in Use 5,292 Hospitals ~74% beds in use
29,450 Inpatient Beds in Use for COVID-19 5,170 Hospitals ~5.76% patients with Covid

You can also search capacity for specific hospitals on this site:

https://public-data-hub-dhhs.hub.arcgis.com/pages/f498500804b3412fa096e8d6e0c8f0d4

And don't forget the beds are also getting filled up now with RSV and flu cases.

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