States accused of fudging or bungling COVID-19 testing data

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Michelle R. Smith, Colleen Long and Jeff Amy, Associated Press
Updated 2:29 pm CDT, Tuesday, May 19, 2020

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As large parts of the U.S. ease their lockdowns against the coronavirus, public health officials in some states are being accused of bungling infection statistics or even deliberately using a little sleight of hand to make things look better than they are.

The result is that politicians, business owners and ordinary Americans who are making decisions about reopenings and other day-to-day matters risk being left with the impression that the virus is under more control than it actually is.

In Virginia, Texas and Vermont, for example, officials said they have been combining the results of viral tests, which show an active infection, with antibody tests, which show a past infection. Public health experts say that can make for impressive-looking testing totals but does not give a true picture of how the virus is spreading.

In Florida, the data scientist who developed the state’s coronavirus dashboard, Rebekah Jones, said this week that she was fired for refusing to manipulate data “to drum up support for the plan to reopen.” Calls to health officials for comment were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/As-US-Europe-reopen-more-big-nations-see-rising-15279672.php

[ArizonaLib]

1. Arizona's don't even look realistic

My 15 year old daughter looked at our numbers and started shaking her head. The cases and death rates start to ramp up, then deaths go down to nothing. Just as the death rate starts to approach 5%, the daily death counts go down to 1, 0, or very few. We have a lot of retired people in this state, many who still refuse to wear masks. The national rate is near 6%. The first death was reported on the news a couple of days after it actually happened, and did not appear in the state count for several more days.

[NonPC]

4. Gotta Thank Ducey

Yea, good old Doug Ducey -- toeing the Republican line. The true data from this tragedy will never be known for the Republican controlled states. The flyover states are still claiming very little illnesses.

Had a (Repub) friend (78 years old) tell me the other day that he was okay with possibly dying --so the economy could get back on track. Told him I didn't share his sense of patriotism.

What is in the Fox Kool Aid that these guys are drinking? Wow!

Putin personally could not have done a better job of wrecking the US.

[Pobeka]

6. Day-to-day changes are notoriously bad, for good reason.

It's always been that way for the pandemic. Cases/deaths generally show up on the day they are *entered*, not the day the test was conducted. There is a very cyclical pattern if you look at the data, probably due to data entry folks not working on weekends.

A running 7 day average is the best way to look at the data IMHO.

[ArizonaLib]

10. I understand, but if they don't work weekends, the numbers should be zero

I would be ok with that if timing were the only. I am not convinced all get reported. I get the impression from the number of retirement homes in Arizona that get clobbered, including those adjacent to our neighborhood don't get categorized to reflect effects of the virus. There is discretion where if someone has the virus and is either tested for it or not, recording the cause of death can be attributed to either complications from or the complications themselves. I suspect Arizona chooses the latter.

[Pobeka]

13. Reporting varies by clinic, so less #'s on weekend, not all zero.

Not classifying the deaths as covid19 is unfathomable. Stupid actually. They do it for political purposes to justify opening up for some kind of meager economic boost.

But death counts are comparible year to year, and total deaths including this virus are about 10x higher than normal years. People are already comparing the death rates 2020 vs past years. And guess when the data will be really ready to be presented? Yup, October. I think it's political suicide to be covering up covid9 deaths.

I hope you fair well ArizonaLib! We got to finally see and hike down into the G. Canyon last fall. Really enjoyed it, and Flagstaff too

[ArizonaLib]

15. Health and Peace to you

The best to your loved ones!

[DENVERPOPS]

11. Bravo AL

"Just as the death rate starts to approach 5%, the daily death counts go down to 1, 0, or very few."

The states electronic voting machines work the same way. As soon as a Dem gets to a certain level of votes, the voting machine is programmed to zero them out............Worked wonders in the 2004 election, especially in Key states.......I remember a voting machine down south in the 2004 election. It was in an almost totally democrat precinct.......The final tally was 1400 votes for "W" and Zero votes for Kerry. To make it even funnier, there were like only 900 registered voters.....LOL

To paraphrase Trump: no tests, then no one can test positive, therefore no disease.......logic as topsy-turvy as that found in Alice in Wonderland........a true indicator of an irrational, insane mind.........

[ArizonaLib]

12. Good point - I bet Diebold is doing the reporting

[progree]

2. In Georgia .. graph of new cases "were not arranged in chronological order but in descending order."

from the linked article in the OP

https://www.chron.com/news/article/As-US-Europe-reopen-more-big-nations-see-rising-15279672.php

[blakstoneranger]

3. LACK OF TRUE LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP

A REAL PRESIDENT WOULD NOT ALLOW THIS....A TRUE LEADER WOULD ENSURE THIS KIND OF THING DOESN'T HAPPEN.

[turbinetree]

5. How is this not pre-mediated homicide, seriously.................

[Igel]

7. If they're combining the PCR and antibody tests,

wouldn't that make it seem like there are more new infections than there really are?

Wouldn't that make the notorious "new case" number higher than it should be?

They're right--it wouldn't give a true picture of how the virus is spreading. It would overstate the amount of spread.

That undercuts the claim that they're trying "to make things look better than they are."

Granted, it shows more tests are performed. Somehow, that's not all that important.

[SergeStorms]

8. There's no doubt in my mind...

that red states are manipulating the data to make Trump, and themselves, look good. I know, I know, an impossible task, but it won't stop them from trying. After the dust settles from this pandemic people will be gobsmacked by the actual numbers.

[dhill926]

9. dead men (and women) don't lie....

folks will be asking a lot of questions soon...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. K&R