Posted on 08/09/2020 7:18:13 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
Glad I could pass it on. :)
This goes to my point. Im not willing to believe those numbers are real. They have been massaged, twisted and manipulated to create a false picture of reality. Cases and deaths are being conflated in the publics mind; patients who die with Covid are reported as having died of it, etc.
This whole thing has the foul stench of political expediency. Ill wager a million dollars that shortly after the election the aura of urgency about it will quietly evaporate.
The numbers are of course very much preliminary. We don’t get final numbers for Influenza deaths until about 2 years after the end of a particular flu season, and even then it’s a range estimate for hospitalizations and deaths. There have been some cases widely reported of incorrect death certificates where COVID-19 was improperly listed as the OCOD. There are also significant numbers of unexplained excess deaths during the height of COVID-19 in New York City which suggests they’ve been undercounted as well.
The truth is, we don’t have an exact number and we never will have one that’s perfect. We have basic estimates based on all the data submitted by all the hospitals and health departments in the nation. That data is not useless; it’s helpful for mapping trends, identifying hotspots, assigning supplies like PPE, hospital staffing and logistics, and so on. Without it, we’re flying blind and that will cost lives. It’s important that we recognize the numbers as imperfect while using them as tools to stay prepared and avoid situations like what we saw in Italy where people were dying in the hallways of the hospitals. That should never happen here, especially not for something as manageable as COVID-19 is. It’s no smallpox. We should always be ahead of it.
My bad. It was intended for amorphous
Good point. While fatalities are of course the bigger concern, just as in a war, the long lasting “injuries” and (often) lengthy recoveries themselves are a large drag on a society / economy.
As to your question in the OP, I think a lot depends on how many of the tests are demand driven by people with actual symptoms or reason to believe they’ve been exposed, vs. how many of the tests are screenings (think: Athletes and such) OR, essentially, are sampling of the (more or less) general population. The latter group, screenings plus sampling, should show a low positivity rate. But I’d think the former group would jump much more during a surge.
That said, some of the other fluctuations you’ve noted over past weeks don’t “fit” the above, and I can only ascribe them to hiccups in the data collection and unknowns (at least to me!)
Thanks again for all the data. I really hope we can get this thing tamped down to well below June 2020 numbers before Fall gets here in earnest, or we’ll most likely see much worse health and economic damage, then. That would, I’m fairly sure, seal Trump’s fate in the election. But, I ask myself, is that much “tamping down” a reasonable goal? I am unsure.
Good tip.
One slight bug: In order to know if you have returned to precisely the same scaling you usually use (100%, in my case), you’ll have to go into your browser settings menu (at least in IE.) Or count mouse wheel detents in both directions. Of course (at least in IE) the setting menu gets one directly to the zoom function as a % if one prefers that, such as for printing consistent size screen shots of whatever. (Say, a utility bill with really light print in some spots that one wishes to darken in something like IrfanView B4 printing it.)
Another function I use a lot, is to hold the function key down and press the *Prnt Scrn* key to capture the screen to memory. You can then open your fav graphics program, or even some word processors, and paste the image to them. Then you can print it, or save it as an image. I use this a lot for bills, orders, and etc.
Yes, I use Fn + Print Screen and Irfanview just as you say and then as I described (to improve the image, often.)
IE seems to be the only browser not displaying the little “zoom” pop up window once zoom is being used. Granted that IE is getting rather long in the tooth. But I like it’s print options best. I often use IE’s print preview to generate a more usable copy of an Invoice or whatever to then do a screen capture, modify the image quality, and save.
Anyway, we’re pretty OT here. (My fault! But, useful stuff!)
This sort of thing hardly helps with data consistency:
CA Public Health Director Tenders Late-Night Resignation After Glitch Delays 300,000 Test Results
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3873154/posts
Agreed!!! Very well stated.
IE is dated. Not sure if MS even supports now. Like you, I’m a hanger-on, but using an unsupported browser is surfing dangerously in shark infested waters these days. There are better alternatives. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.