I've finally reached a place where I can make a comment! Whew! I could not find where to comment on recent posts, but hopefully here will do. I used to own Bradford Map Company, and I did thematic mapping for a living. I find the way you are showing the 14 day increase in covid 19 a bit misleading. Example, I live in Taliaferro County now, I have retired here. I used to like in DeKalb County. We have had 2 cases confirmed and 0 deaths for a long time. Recently, the number of confirmed cases went to 5, with 0 deaths. Thematically, my county is represented in dark purple. One could be alarmed that the virus is spreading like wildfire here, and a cursory look by someone not trained in the data could conclude erroneously that we have an out of control situation, which we do not. We went from 2 people to 5 people positive. One could come to all sorts of negative opinions. Don't travel there, they are rednecks that don't wear masks, etc....Actually the opposite is true. I have seen much more mask wearing out in the country that I have seen near Atlanta. I had to go to the Home Depot in Covington a few weeks ago and it was full and I was the only customer wearing a mask! A lot of the purple counties you portray thematically are rural and have small populations. Percentage wise, going from 2 to 5 is 250%, but numerically is is wayyy insignificant to the possibility of being exposed in the Atlanta MSA. My 2 cents.
Can you confirm that hospitalized patients (non-ICU) are being admitted because they need hospital care or could they simply be somewhat sick and is a great way to isolate and get paid?
I really appreciate your hard work and I've been subscribing since last month and learning much but the one thing that sticks in my craw are the death numbers. Back in late June, I noticed you started saying you expected a substantial rise in deaths after a 2-3 week lag. But we are now entering late July and that hasn't happened. It makes me wonder if there is a flaw with how you are seeing this. So, all diseases are opportunists and their best opportunities are among the weakest and most medically fragile. The New York Times reported that nearly half of the deaths nationally in the spring were either in nursing homes or among those connected to them. That population is now extremely isolated and older people, on average, continue to shelter in place more than younger ones. It seems you are waiting for an increase in deaths to shadow the increase in cases but that would be based upon how Covid performed months ago, not primary populations today. Isn't it possible to say it is at least just as likely for cases to go up without deaths going up substantially as what you seem to currently think?
I've finally reached a place where I can make a comment! Whew! I could not find where to comment on recent posts, but hopefully here will do. I used to own Bradford Map Company, and I did thematic mapping for a living. I find the way you are showing the 14 day increase in covid 19 a bit misleading. Example, I live in Taliaferro County now, I have retired here. I used to like in DeKalb County. We have had 2 cases confirmed and 0 deaths for a long time. Recently, the number of confirmed cases went to 5, with 0 deaths. Thematically, my county is represented in dark purple. One could be alarmed that the virus is spreading like wildfire here, and a cursory look by someone not trained in the data could conclude erroneously that we have an out of control situation, which we do not. We went from 2 people to 5 people positive. One could come to all sorts of negative opinions. Don't travel there, they are rednecks that don't wear masks, etc....Actually the opposite is true. I have seen much more mask wearing out in the country that I have seen near Atlanta. I had to go to the Home Depot in Covington a few weeks ago and it was full and I was the only customer wearing a mask! A lot of the purple counties you portray thematically are rural and have small populations. Percentage wise, going from 2 to 5 is 250%, but numerically is is wayyy insignificant to the possibility of being exposed in the Atlanta MSA. My 2 cents.
Dear Amber,
It's nice to see a fellow doctor also writing about COVID-19 here.
All the best,
Carl
Can you confirm that hospitalized patients (non-ICU) are being admitted because they need hospital care or could they simply be somewhat sick and is a great way to isolate and get paid?
I really appreciate your hard work and I've been subscribing since last month and learning much but the one thing that sticks in my craw are the death numbers. Back in late June, I noticed you started saying you expected a substantial rise in deaths after a 2-3 week lag. But we are now entering late July and that hasn't happened. It makes me wonder if there is a flaw with how you are seeing this. So, all diseases are opportunists and their best opportunities are among the weakest and most medically fragile. The New York Times reported that nearly half of the deaths nationally in the spring were either in nursing homes or among those connected to them. That population is now extremely isolated and older people, on average, continue to shelter in place more than younger ones. It seems you are waiting for an increase in deaths to shadow the increase in cases but that would be based upon how Covid performed months ago, not primary populations today. Isn't it possible to say it is at least just as likely for cases to go up without deaths going up substantially as what you seem to currently think?
Is my GA DPH broken? It only shows 37 hospitalizations. I found that shocking and unbelievable. Now I’m even more concerned seeing your higher count.