For about a week now, Kaitlin and I have been talking about the rising number of COVID-19 cases, but the seemingly steady or declining number of deaths. This is a good thing, obviously.
We’ve speculated that it’s most likely due to increase testing and people recognizing symptoms earlier and therefore getting treatment earlier. Today I saw this thread on Twitter that look at the rising number of cases in Florida, Texas, and California:
This is a deep dive into the Covid situation in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California.
— Gummi Bear (@gummibear737) June 28, 2020
Afterall, we’re seeing a huge jump in cases!
But let’s look behind the case numbers being reported and let’s see what’s really going on. pic.twitter.com/tMWywkRxKc
Click through to read the thread, but the conclusion is at the end:
Overall Conclusions
— Gummi Bear (@gummibear737) June 28, 2020
-No reason for panic
-The surge in cases for all states in the last two weeks is probably BLM related
-Overall, cases increase with testing
-Overall, deaths do not increase with more new cases
-Arizona deserves a deeper dive to make sense of the second rise
I’m hopeful that these trends continue but still concerned we’re not doing enough to protect the most vulnerable. Requiring masks everywhere in public would be a huge win for the latter.
Finally, more people should be looking to sources like this on Twitter for facts and news rather than mainstream media. It’s sad we can’t depend on those channels for rational, data-driven insights like these.