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Look, I love my state but also Washington's COVID data has been completely horked for multiple weeks and I'll bet you haven't seen anyone talking about it
They just fixed it, which is why WA has 358,000 new tests reported today
They just fixed it, which is why WA has 358,000 new tests reported today
If Florida had the problems WA had with COVID data, it would have been leading the news for the last 2 weeks and you absolutely cannot convince me otherwise.
Remember that time some labs were showing 100% positivity rate in Florida?
@MarcACaputo and I got in a tiff over it.
I haven't seen anyone mention that the WA positivity rate has been 100% for the last three weeks (and for exactly the same reason)
@MarcACaputo and I got in a tiff over it.
I haven't seen anyone mention that the WA positivity rate has been 100% for the last three weeks (and for exactly the same reason)
When a few labs in Florida reported only positives, there were multiple national stories about it. Scandal! Unanswered questions! Hidden data! We must hold someone accountable!
When the entire state of WA did it and... nothing.
Silence.
When the entire state of WA did it and... nothing.
Silence.
Shit happens. Metrics become hard to track, some core reporting infrastructure goes down, these are all things that happen. Data gathering is hard and messy.
So don't turn bumps in data reporting into national stories! It really is that simple.
So don't turn bumps in data reporting into national stories! It really is that simple.
And if you are going to turn them into national stories, do it consistently.
We can all see the shitty reporters and shitty news orgs deciding what data problems they want to report on and, guess what, they always come down hard against people they want to see destroyed.
We can all see the shitty reporters and shitty news orgs deciding what data problems they want to report on and, guess what, they always come down hard against people they want to see destroyed.
Like excess deaths!
A month ago, I saw a bunch of people saying that Florida was hiding their deaths and that excess deaths from this current surge would reveal that Florida was hiding COVID deaths.
A month ago, I saw a bunch of people saying that Florida was hiding their deaths and that excess deaths from this current surge would reveal that Florida was hiding COVID deaths.
A month later, what did the data say?
Well, they weren't wrong about the raw data, Florida does have non-COVID excess deaths that are higher than the upper bound (which implies that there were 300-500 unidentified COVID deaths per week)
Well, they weren't wrong about the raw data, Florida does have non-COVID excess deaths that are higher than the upper bound (which implies that there were 300-500 unidentified COVID deaths per week)
But during that same time, Michigan had very few official COVID deaths... and STILL had excess deaths well over the upper bound.
Why? That's a more surprising, more interesting data point.
wtf is happening in MI?
No one in the press cares. No one.
Why? That's a more surprising, more interesting data point.
wtf is happening in MI?
No one in the press cares. No one.
Anyway, that's my rant for the week
And here's the CDC's excess death data if you're interested in where these graphs come from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm
