The US tested the wrong people for coronavirus
And you can tell because of a number called the test positivity rate.
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As the rate of new coronavirus cases in the US slows down, many states and cities there are encouraging businesses to open again, easing the lockdowns that have been in place since March. But public health experts warn that in many of those places, opening up is premature.
The reason is that throughout the US, as well as in many other countries, we still don’t really know how many people have the virus, or where they are. That’s dangerous because it means infected people who don’t feel sick are probably mingling with the rest of the population, which could enable further outbreaks. And the only way to really prevent that is by proactively testing people for covid-19 until the people who have it have been tracked down and isolated.
The US started testing its population for covid-19 very slowly, but it’s since ramped testing up, and by early May was performing over 200,000 tests a day. Unfortunately, there’s no magic number of tests that is “enough” to contain an outbreak. The important thing is to test the right people — and to evaluate whether that’s happening, public health officials recommend looking at a different number: The percentage of tests coming back positive. It’s called the test positivity rate.
Note: The headline on this piece has been updated.
Previous headline: What the US needs to do to open up safely
Sources:
Our World in Data is a reliable source for country-by-country covid-19 data:
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer?yScale=log&zoomToSelection=true&deathsMetric=true&dailyFreq=true&aligned=true&smoothing=7&country=USA+GBR+CAN+BRA+AUS+IND+ESP+DEU+FRA+RUS
Our World in Data also has weekly-rolling test-positivity rate data which gives a better snapshot of where countries are currently at:
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing
We based our state test-positivity rates on this May 6 Harvard Global Health Institute and NPR analysis:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/07/851610771/u-s-coronavirus-testing-still-falls-short-hows-your-state-doing
The Atlantic’s coverage of the importance of test-positivity rates:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/04/us-coronavirus-outbreak-out-control-test-positivity-rate/610132/
An important disclaimer on potential inflation in testing numbers at the national and state level in the US:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/cdc-and-states-are-misreporting-covid-19-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/
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Costco staff: please wear a mask.
Customer: I refuse, coz last I checked i woke up in a free country.
Austin V
You mean in Europe, where the amount of infections is LOWER and the death-rate is LOWER?
Greg Williams
Incorrect.
There are many countries that are “free”. Also, “freedom” has limits, due to something called “responsibility”. Hence the rule of law, social obligation and rules.
You comment is null and void.
Andrew Richardson what’s your take then on places that have always said “no shirt, no shoes, no service”? It’s the same exact thing except this time it’s actually serving a purpose
@Andrew Richardson not in public you dont
@Cilandia Lane majority of Americans are not like that. Just the uneducated hicks.
I was at the ER recently to be admitted to a psych ward, they had to give everyone a COVID test. It took 7 hours for the test results to come back, and the hospital only gets 100 tests per week. I was lucky but some of my peers had to wait 2-3 days in order to just get tested.
-Mexico, how many positive cases do you have?
-10
-And how many tests did you apply?
-10
🇲🇽🤦🏻♂️
Finally we have found the cause !
eddie gonzalez and we’re wondering why we’re still in quarantine…
@eddie gonzalez You’re lucky. I wonder if you’ll say “It’S NoT a BiG dEaL” if one of your loved ones get sick and don’t recover
@calvin ! where are you at ? and if you ask my opinion it is because the beast system is being quietly being fully activated, and if and when the world reconveins it will never be the same. My friend I believe were are In The Time of Jacob’s trouble as spoken of in Jeremiah 30 :7 that is bible prophecy . Jesus is the only thing that can saves us now .
@Ajay Menon except they don’t do any testing outdoors. If you’re sick, you go to a hospital, you get tested positive, you be quarantined. If not, you go home.
Source: I live in Yemen
Mongolia: Zero local transmission
All cases imported
im out
@Thomas smith I would assume so, considering we barely had a foot on North America in the 1500’s
ray mott wait 30 million people wut
@Papa’s Random Videos exactly
Plus, not many people go in and out of Mongolia.
@ray mott some islands in the carribean have less number of people and have it
News: get masks
Me:it’s bold of u to think I go outside
Edit:the most likes I got on a comment
Wear ur Zorro mask.
Lol
Congrats on all the likes. Your life is now complete.
2019: Avoid negative people
2020: Avoid positive people
@Daniel Nelson 😁😂😂
@Kreekcraft L L L I can turn that around this is totally over used
I don’t get it
🤬
2021: I’m low on cat food
Testing is just one part of the solution, as with everything else, so we have to implement ALL solutions together.
@Minho Shin and you think they didn’t already spread it to 100s of people during their asystematic period, and those people spread it to 100s of other people and so on. Then what if they test positive but still go out and do whatever which tons do, do we put them in prison?
@Minho Shin effectively isolating sick people would require daily testing of the entire population. Thats 10,500,000,000 test a month. No nation can do that. Nor should they. Huge waste of resources for something that the vast majority of people overcome.
Baaa baaa baaa…chews cud….baaaa baaaa…chews more cud…..baaaa baaaa
They will be part of herd immunity experiment
There are no “solutions together”. Barr Durham carry my solution.
This video is just silly while we have a private health care system that charges an arm and a leg for basic services.
Old news: everybody should know this already.
My sister caught it, and they refused to test her until she was so sick that she checked into the ER. A week later state officials were bragging how they had more tests available than patients to test. That sums this whole thing up.
Wow that’s incredible, I hope your sister is feeling better now.
Its simple if they had treated her at the earlier stage she would have healed and they won’t have a chance to add a death statistic to their narrative.
everyone living in fear and it shows.
Not really. Only the people on youtube. When you go outside its different.
There’s a simple reason why we’re not doing more tests; the government hasn’t found a way to make it at least $4,000.
@Viictor Martinezz South Korea cares more about their people than United States.
we cannot even get n95 masks and sanitizer for everyone. we are long past the ‘shortages’ for hospital staff and others. they are telling us to wear t shirts and grandma made masks as a substitute. more masks for the public means less transmission from person to person. hoarding all the masks for hospitals makes no sense.
@Viictor Martinezz we have the money but want to keep it
What you talking about? The test is free
I SEE NO PURPOSE FOR TESTING. IF YOU ARE SICK YOU KNOW IT IF NOT YOU KNOW THAT THAT TOO. RESEARCH TO FIND YHE CORRECT UV LIGHT TO CURE VIRUSES AND PREVENT SPREAD OF VIRUSES AND BACTERIA..
interesting how long it takes to rediscover things that experts learned in college
My experience in life in the US is that, we only think reactive, instead of proactive about everything.
Daniel Nelson I don’t think this was planned by world leaders..,
@Jauhgn your a bot
Daniel Nelson you had an idea, not the plan. Plan is when you well thought about how you will implement your idea, exact steps and resources. How you will quarantine every person and make sure they stay in quarantine? Were you will station them? Who will serve them? How are you going to protect those who are around quarantined people, especially if you don’t have supply of PPE. Besides, by the moment we knew about outbreak in China, many had chance to come into the contact with the virus. Oh, and i forgot to mention, that you should be a President who is willing to spend lots of money on your plan, not just wishing the miracle.
@BlaireBear Plays No need
Marco Solis because I don’t think it was a conspiracy? Also it’s you’re not your
Guy: Hi so I developed a-
Doctor: yea.. we are just going to assume you have it.
Exactly
😂 off
oof
I was saying this immediately and got called all sorts of names for it.
This isn’t science btw, it’s common sense.
Vince Scaglione Nope! If you’re going to make extraordinary claims then extraordinary evidence is required.
@Random Bloke yes, it is killing more. but more people are also surviving through it. look into the antibody tests in new york if you actually want to learn about the death rates
@Lindy Brown Quarantines have NEVER been issued for the well…only the sick. By staying in you are sheltering yourself while simultaneously weakening your immune system! I have NEVER seen a person not get blisters on his hands by NOT using a shovel!
@Random Bloke comparing it to the flu is kinda faulty tho. They’ve also been blowing that out of proportion for years.
@Random Bloke Okay……what say you about the reports of doctors being coerced into claiming deaths as covid when there was no proof? What about hospitals being granted more federal funds for more covid victims..and thus hospitals fudging the numbers? What about California…they have literal blocks and blocks of what amounts to acres of tent cities for homeless, yet even where there is no running water to clean your hands or body, no home to shelter in, very seriously malnourished population wigged out on drugs, yet the chance of covid in Ca is 0.0033 …..not even a half of a percentage mark! I could go on, and on, and on!
Same happened to me in AZ. High fever, sore throat and coughing and they just told me I’m not high risk and couldn’t test.
Me too… I am in So. California
Teachers in 2019: You HAVE to be social.
2020:uh, nevermind.
“Ok we are gonna assume u have it, but we are not gonna test u”
Goes to show how America’s health care system is a joke. It always has been and always will be. A true shame.