The State of North Carolina is continuing to have trouble reporting accurate numbers regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, the state backtracked on the number of positive COVID-19 test results and warned that about 1,000 reported cases had been recorded very late – and misleadingly created what looked like a giant one-day spike in the number of positive cases. On Labor Day, the state sent out another correction – this time regarding its reported hospitalization numbers.
In a Monday, Sept. 7 press release, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) stated that, since Friday, Sept. 4, the state “has experienced continued technical and submission issues with hospital systems’ data, which have been exacerbated by the holiday weekend, resulting in incomplete hospitalization data.”
While the first snafu in reporting data created a misleadingly high impression of the number of positive cases for a single day, the holiday weekend information mishap underreported the number of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus. Both of these errors come right in the wake of an early August reporting error in which the state inadvertently included nearly a quarter of a million tests – ones given out of state – in the number of tests given in North Carolina.
According to state health officials, they are currently working with all parties involved to resolve the issue and they hope to have accurate numbers out soon.
Early in the pandemic, the state created a COVID-19 “Dashboard” on the web to provide the public with a running count of things such as the number of tests given across the state, the number of positive results, a by-county breakdown and the number of hospitalizations and deaths.
The state’s press release notes, “Because the COVID-19 NC Dashboard displays only data that it is received, it is likely that actual hospital numbers are higher than what is on the current dashboard.”
On Monday, Sept. 7, the Dashboard reported 765 people were in hospitals due to the virus.
Just read a study conducted by UCLA and Stanford Medical researchers stating that people between the ages of 50 to 64 have a 1 in 15.1 Million chance of dying from Covid-19. Car accident: 1 in 106
Better ban all cars. If even one life is saved, it will be worth it.
That’s not correct Bob. There’s about 50 million people in the US between the ages of 50 and 64. A one in 15 million chance of dying would predict that only 3-4 people in this age range would die from Covid throughout the entire pandemic. (We’ve had about 25,000 deaths in the US in this age range so far.)
I’m a 50 year old male in good health and taking reasonable precautions. I have about a 13% chance of catching the virus, and about 0.25% chance of dying if I catch it. So my overall chance of dying from Covid is about 1 in 10,000.
So you’re right (and I agree) in saying that the risk is small and we need to get on with our lives, but spouting ridiculous statistics makes people on our side of the argument look stupid.
Covidcon 19 – the biggest scam since 9/11
Get ready for the darkest winter
Time to wake up, time is running out.
Are you saying 9/11 didn’t happen?
Oh boy.
9/11 wasn’t/isn’t a scam. Are you thinking of Y2K?