Data Can Be Misleading

   

   Data taken out of context can be misleading.

   COVID-19 cases are increasing in the majority of states.

   Here is why the data is understated, and the pandemic worse than it appears.

   Remember around the holidays when people were lined up, waiting in their cars for hours to be tested?

   That is no longer happening. If testing is down dramatically, then reports of infection are down dramatically. People who would have tested positive simply are not being tested.

   Also, data you see does not include home testing.

   To further confound the data, some state and local government officials have reduced or eliminated case-reporting of the virus.

   Looking at hospitalizations is also misleading, however these numbers may overstate reality.

   When you see the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, you assume that is the reason they were admitted. 

   Not true. They may have been hospitalized because of trauma, and coincidentally tested positive upon arrival. They were not severely ill and hospitalized because of the virus.

   Photograph © 2021 Larry F. Levenson.

   All rights reserved.

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