Thread by @OttawaHealth

CASES, DATA, EPIDEMIOLOGY & YOU!

So, our dashboard says -1 cases. About that...

Our dashboards are live documents. The data you see reported each day is a snapshot in time.

Fun fact: today, we actually have 20 new cases.

Why did the dashboard say -1? Let's discuss. (1/9)

Data is important to us.

Being transparent & providing you with the most accurate information possible is the mission of our epidemiologists. Their work doesn't stop after a case is added to our dashboard.

In fact, that's actually when the bulk of their work begins. (2/9)

Every case goes through a quality assurance process.

It takes a lot of time & effort, especially when you're in the middle of another resurgence and reporting 300+ cases per day.

Sometimes, their work will find that a case previously reported in Ottawa wasn't ours. (3/9)

The individual may have been tested in Ottawa, so the lab sample was logged at an Ottawa testing site, but they live in another region (Gatineau, Hawkesbury, etc.).

When that happens, the case is removed from our cumulative count & is added to that of another health unit. (4/9)

Today we added 20 new cases. But our ongoing quality assurance work removed 21 previously reported cases. Hence, -1.

We didn't need to do this. Our epi team could just log cases and move on with their work.

We do this because we care. Transparency is important to us. (5/9)

It's why we've said the daily case counts aren't what we should be focusing on.

They're simply the change from the previous day's cumulative count.

What matters are things like the 7-day averages, case counts per 100K, etc.

Those are what we use to gauge our situation. (6/9)

Also, for those data lovers out there, kindly note: the actual changes (new cases added, occasional cases removed) are on our dashboard, in the open data section. You can see it here: bit.ly/2SdSkzx

Ok, that's enough geeking out for now.

Let's just chat...(7/9)

The data clearly shows that your efforts over the past few weeks are working. But this isn't the time to relax.

Remember: the numbers we see today are a snapshot of about 2 weeks ago. They don't tell us what's happening today.

We know it's tempting to just open it all up. (8/9)

But it would invite cases rising up again quickly & we'd wind up right back here again.

TLDR: we're still in a pandemic.

Let's stick to the plan. It starts Friday.

We'll keep vaccinating as quickly as supplies allow. You keep being #COVIDwise. We'll get there.

-OPH out (9/9)