Thread by @juliette_io

👩‍🏫 Covid Data Words Explainer - 'Under Investigation'

What are all these cases Under Investigation we hear about?

It's confusing bc NSW Health now announces 2 different categories of cases 'Under Investigation' that mean different things

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#covidnsw #covidvic #covid19aus

1. Cases with an unknown source

They indicate undetected chains of transmission - outside the households and workplaces we know about

Contact Tracers are trying to solve these over the coming days and weeks

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https://twitter.com/juliette_io/status/1422742177088561154

2. Cases 'under investigation' with respect to the question, were they in the community while infectious?

We data nerds call cases in community while infectious 'Wild'

So cases under investigation are Wild TBD (To Be Determined)

https://twitter.com/juliette_io/status/1422729487381188608

Wild TBD simply means the case has not yet been interviewed

Once they're interviewed, the wild status is known (it will be Wild, Partial Wild or in Isolation for full infectious period)

But WE we don't get updated until the surveillance report tells us in a few weeks 👎

FAQ: Are cases under investigation 'mystery cases'?

Mystery cases refer to the first category - we don't know the source of infection

NSW and VIC use different words

NSW -
1. Cases go Under Investigation
2. If we can't find the source they're reallocated 'unknown source'

VIC - coined the term 'mystery case'

My interpretation is this is lay language that refers to *both* under investigation and from an unknown source

Cue differing interpretations ...

Thank you for your time! Hope this helps. That concludes the class 🌞

ps. this thread inspired by @Valentine702 with whom I chatted yday (about 6 mins into ep)

abc.net.au/radio/sydney/p…

Ok, even though the lines are blurred, I think this is more correct that my interpretation. How mystery cases fits in with the NSW language -

https://twitter.com/dbRaevn/status/1422758863107887105