An article in the News & Observer on Monday, Nov. 9 has the scary headline, “NC rolling average for new COVID-19 cases reaches record high, breaks 2,400 cases.”
The article goes into more detail about how the number of new cases reported each day has gone up. What the article doesn’t mention is that the number of people tested has gone up. More tests result in more cases whether the incidence of the disease in North Carolina is increasing or not.
If North Carolina performed zero tests, there would be zero new cases for that day, but it would not be an indication that there were no new cases of COVID-19 in the state.
For example, on Oct. 12 there were 21,224 tests reported and 1,276 were positive. On Oct. 13 there were 20,378 tests reported and 1,734 were positive.
But on Nov. 6 there were 41,517 tests reported and 2,908 were positive and on Nov. 7 there were 37,478 tests reported and 2,676 were positive.
The percentage of positive cases also increased, but the vast majority of that increase from October is from completing nearly double the number of tests. To report the increase in positive test results and not report the increase in the total number of tests performed is misleading.
If the number of positive cases reported for a day had increased by over 1,000 with a similar number of people tested that would be alarming, but it is not alarming that more tests result in more positive test results.
The article also reports the total number of deaths since March as 4,615, but doesn’t break it down. There has still been one death of anyone under 18 and five deaths of those under 25.
The number of deaths of those over 75 is 2,707, which is 59 percent of the total number of deaths even though this age group makes up 7 percent of the people who have tested positive.
The numbers are all a game to the ones who profit from them. Of course the more tests they do the more positive results they will have, even false positives. The hospitals test everyone so that if they die they can check the box blaming COVID-19 and secure additional “grant funding” from the libs. For those liberals reading this that means John Q. Taxpayer paid the bill and threw in extra money just for grins. Yet somehow vaccine development is right on our heels with big pharma profiting from that as well. Did I mention that was funded the same way? So, how exactly is a worldwide pandemic and the numbers that are dependent on a system that’s been flawed for decades President Trump’s fault? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…….. and I won’t be taking your vaccines that were whipped up overnight and have limited testing no matter who is peddling them. I work with almost 800 people daily with no slowdown during this scamdemic. Our entire building has been tested twice. About 50 people wear masks, and we’ve had 5 people test positive with only 1 showing any real symptoms. Oh, by the way, the only people who tested positive were the mask wearing folks. Understand, yes the pandemic is real, our twisted socialist systems in place to deal with it are the scam.
There are so many problems here. Let’s start slow…
Can you provide us some context about your workplace? Why are the 50 required to wear masks? Why aren’t the 750 not required to? How were those decisions made or is it just personal choice? What kind of work are they doing? How is your work monitoring workers behaviors outside of work? Short answer, they are not, and it’s likely they aren’t actually getting the disease in the workplace and might be exhibiting more risky behaviors when not at work and required to wear a mask.
I’m not sure why you are calling out liberals about who is paying taxes to support research and healthcare – it just isn’t clear why that is a partisan issue when those bills are largely bipartisan or by executive order.
We don’t do slow. The governor’s executive order is not feasibly enforceable and offers many exceptions, the 50 or so people that wear masks do so voluntarily and we post the typical BS signs at the entrances, restroom doors, and of course near the trash cans where folks can properly dispose of their masks if they so choose. Its not really anyone’s business (including my own) what any of them do at home so the other 799 could be having a quiet Bible study, chasing each other naked around the yard while holding a peaceful protest against wearing green pants on Wednesdays, or holding a “super spreader party” every night for all we know. Forgive me if I get the terminology wrong, but I think thats what the libs call it when 6 or more people share the living room close enough to share the popcorn bowl or sit outside to eat nowadays. Maybe that only applies if there’s any signage with the President’s name on it in close proximity? I’m not exactly sure. In summary yes the pandemic is real, but uncle Sam’s programs are not the answer. Meanwhile some politician’s wife, husband, or in-laws are getting rich off of all of this by providing tests, masks, wipes, gloves, sanitizers, specialized equipment, vaccines, etc. while laughing at us all. Big Pharma wins while John Q. Taxpayer ultimately pays the bill. Protect yourself, this pandemic potentially affects all homo sapiens, but with so much misinformation and uncertainty from the so called experts, just use good common sense and do whatever you do to avoid the cold or flu. The worst of the sickness isn’t over, but the impact of our over the top response to it will have significant economic repercussions for years.
Right!
I’m shocked, shocked that a MSM rag would throw out a scare headline like that but bury the important details…..NOT!
Just Sayin’ hit the nail on the head. Yes the pandemic is real. Yes we need to be careful and take precautions. But this thing has been hijacked and weaponized by those in positions of power in an attempt to solidify and extend that power. The sheeple have been fed line after line and in a lot of cases contradictory lines on it. It’s who yells the loudest and longest that gets believed.
John Hammer is terrible and writes this weekly editorial to simply comment on a more profitable and read publications reporting. He rarely provides new and valuable information and often subtly inserts his own opinion into things he claims is news. John Hammer is not a health professional, epidemiologist, or statistician. I’m not sure many would even classify him as a journalist. If he were, he’d maybe actually seek an experts analysis or commentary on the numbers instead of trying to explain it to us by himself.
Editorial bias 1: “More tests result in more cases whether the incidence of the disease in North Carolina is increasing or not.” This is blatantly false. If the incidence were decreasing the amount of increase in testing would have to account for that. But what we are seeing is the incidence is staying roughly level around 5-7%. In that context, yes, increased testing results in increased positive test results if incidence remains fairly steady.
Editorial bias 2: “The percentage of positive cases also increased, but the vast majority of that increase from October is from completing nearly double the number of tests.” Simply testing more people does not change the percentage of positive cases. The point that is being missed here is that we are testing more people that actually need to be tested because of symptoms or exposure. The increase in both rate of positive cases and number of tests supports that this disease is worse now than it ever was in the summer.
You think the MSM is bad? John Hammer just spouts numerical illiteracy as though it is fact. Learn to math.
You bi**h about the content of this paper/site yet you return time and time again to attempt to spread your version of male bovine manure.
You are accusing John Hammer of the exact same thing FB and Twitter is accused of doing yet I hear no condemnation of them, or is it you have no problem with them censoring conservative speech, something John doesn’t do to liberal speech here.
So sad.
You’d have my reply to this, but John Hammer and the Rhino censored my post. You can refer to “male bovine manure” but apparently I can’t say POS. Seems like a double-standard of some sort to me. They don’t provide any guidelines for how the moderate, so I have to just assume it is because they favor some words over others.
With respect to twitter and facebook, they are a completely different platform (that I do not use). The don’t pretend to supply and create news stories, they enable people to share content (notice I used the word content). They have guidelines on when and why they would flag, remove, or otherwise censor content that users share. Again, I do not use facebook or twitter, so who what where when why would I condemn them?
The actual active cases are wayyyy down, as of yesterday. Lower than they’ve been in weeks.
Where’s your data? The only way that is possible based on how the NCDHHS provides data from which one could *estimate* active cases would mean that the number of deaths went WAY up.
Also, thanks for censoring my other comment JH and RT. Still waiting to know what the guidelines are for posting here…
Let me give you a shocking medical fact bucko…people canhave a disease and experiance or show no symptoms…in medical terms they are asymptomatic.
Since in your opinion I am a conspiracy theorist here’s one for you…Large numbers of people are asymptomatic and don’t even know they have it until they are tested, therefore increasing testing increases the number of KNOWN cases.
Wonder what would happen if they reported the number of people who are KNOWN asymptomatic versus the number people showing symptoms for a comparison.
Figures don’t lie but liars can figure. With immense amount of data available these days it’s best just to ignore it all.
Anyone with nefarious intentions ie: politicians, can make any case they want in order to control the narrative and thus the situation. The 2020 election is a textbook example!
Testing is part of medical science to make an accurate diagnosis to give the best medical care. If you stop testing for cancer maybe there would be lower cancer numbers — and more people would die. Numbers for Covid are up all over the country and more very sick people and more strain on our medical system. “Just Sayin” is wrong that medical care is working to increase covid numbers to make more money.
It’s not the caregivers Ann, they’re all certainly working hard to help all who are in need. Rest assured those executive level administrators behind the scenes are indeed pushing to check every box they can to get those dollars. This includes covid testing and follow up if the person should expire. My spouse works closely with this and we have seen it first hand. Science is certainly good, but not every new discovery is healthy. Tests can be good, but they can also sometimes lead to misdiagnosis or treatments that are more harmful than the condition. I’m not saying you’re wrong, only that we all have to decide what we subject ourselves to. Our ancestors survived for centuries without many things we have today. They may have had shorter lives, but they enjoyed each other and enjoyed life. Sometimes I long for those simpler times.
To Ugh, the type of work being done is irrelevant. My office “requires” masks and only one person wears one sometimes. He’s been tested 9 times that I know of (all negative). He says he’s just being sure but he’s really driving the numbers up as are so many people who get tested weekly (I know of 3) just in case. Covid is real but the dire effects, the scary numbers, and the doomsday sayers are the real virus.
Hey Sherry, where do you work so I can stay the f*** away!?!?
Your office requires masks and no one wears them? Or maybe I’m misreading that and you mean everyone wears them all the time and this one rebel chooses to sometimes wear one but then also wants to be tested every couple weeks? Although, I don’t think the guy that refuses to wear a required mask is also the guy that just wants to be sure he’s healthy….
No one is saying this is the end of the world and that we are all going to die. I’m not sure where you heard that. I don’t even hear that the numbers are scary – perhaps they are scary to you because you don’t fully understand how numbers work? I don’t see how wearing a mask and leaving a bar at 10:59 pm is a dire effect on me personally, but I can imagine you disagree with that too. What “dire effects” are you talking about?
Sorry for the folks that picked industries and businesses that weren’t resilient to global crises. Perhaps if they had a degree they’d be better equipped to pivot and adapt to a constantly changing world.
Ugh – “Sorry for the folks that picked industries and businesses that weren’t resilient to global crises. Perhaps if they had a degree they’d be better equipped to pivot and adapt to a constantly changing world.”
THAT has got to be one of the most pompous, stuck up things I have ever seen someone communicate in public. What the hell is wrong with you?
Yup,
The liberal hive mind has no individual conscience. They are programmed to spew hate at any logical argument.
Atrox melior dulcissima veritas mendaciis. Sounds like some lib has a degree in hate to me. Life isn’t about titles and degrees. Too many folks buying those on the internet these days. We have far too many college graduates with advanced degrees apply to positions that can’t pass a basic 10th grade reading test. Many degrees and the people who make an issue of them have obviously missed the point that a roll of toilet paper is worth more in today’s economy than many of those so called degrees. They get shown the door. If you’re interested in improving your stature, I hear you can become a card carrying member of the clergy including parking passes for about $40.
“It rubs the lotion on its skin, it does this whenever its told.” – Ted Levine
Eventually this sad tale will end with quoting Dante’ “Io fei gibetto de le mei case.”
Oh that we could all be as clairvoyant as Ugh so we would know what not to do to avoid life’s pitfalls.
It isn’t clairvoyance, it’s resilience. There is no avoiding all of the ups and downs of life for anyone. Just ask President Joe – his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. But look at him now, just a couple months from being inaugurated as #46 and finally a chance to heal some of the wounds.
It follows that if increased testing discloses more cases; then reduced testing will mitigate the number of cases.
K.I.S.S.