Yes, the protests and the police response will exacerbate the pandemic.
But cases may have already been rising. Arizona, North Carolina, and California are seeing more cases than ever. The US is now trying to do harm reduction around Covid, not beat it:
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
But cases may have already been rising. Arizona, North Carolina, and California are seeing more cases than ever. The US is now trying to do harm reduction around Covid, not beat it:
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
I’m getting two good questions about the rise in cases in Arizona, North Carolina, and other states:
- Is it just because we’re testing more?
- Are we seeing hospitalizations rise too?
Unfortunately, we have good evidence that the answers are no and yes, respectively.
- Is it just because we’re testing more?
- Are we seeing hospitalizations rise too?
Unfortunately, we have good evidence that the answers are no and yes, respectively.
Arizona, which is of special concern, is at its all-time peak in the data for tests, positives, and hospitalizations. For the first time since late April, the percent of tests that come back positive in AZ now again exceeds 10%. public.tableau.com/profile/peter.… 
“The increased testing alone doesn’t seem to be a plausible explanation of why so many more cases were identified,” Joe Gerald, a UArizona professor of public health, told @pattymachStar and @DevoidAlex. “Finding a positive case is just now easier to do.” tucson.com/news/local/ari…
North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Arkansas are also seeing rising numbers of cases and hospitalizations.
Meanwhile, the number of tests per positive—a smart metric proposed by @twang0518, in which a “good” result is high—is now *falling* in the South, Southwest, and West. It rose through May. We’re testing more, yes, but it’s easier to find a positive case now than it used to be.
Apologies for doing this tweetstorm twice—the first tweet in the series said the opposite of what I meant, so I had to go back and redo them all.🤦
