COVID-19 IN ONTARIO: 5 Myths & Facts

MYTH: Case #’s are up in Ontario because we test more.

FACT: Over the last 4 days, we averaged 32,000 daily tests vs. 31,000 in the middle of August.

The last 4 days we found 3,156 cases vs. 357 in the middle of August.

...1/5

MYTH: There’s no flu because it’s being labeled as COVID-19.

FACT: The reason flu cases are minimal is:
i. It’s only the start of flu season in Ontario
ii. Like in South America, physical distancing and hygiene will decrease how much flu we see (But get your flu shot!)

...2/5

MYTH: Positive tests don’t indicate illness.

FACTS: Positive tests indicate detection of the virus SARS-CoV-2. If symptomatic, it’s COVID-19. Due to changing test criteria, more positive tests are from symptomatic cases, so very likely to indicate COVID-19.

...3/5

MYTH: The COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab has a false positive rate of 50%.

FACT: As of May 2020, Ontario detected false positive results on approximately 20 occasions among over 228,000 specimens tested to date; at that time, 11,000 specimens tested positive.

...4/5

MYTH: The media typically reports daily case counts so they must be the best metric.

FACT: False. They are one of the worst. Other indicators are much more important: Rt, test positivity, two-week rolling average, and weekly cases / ICU utilization / deaths per capita.

...5/5