How much do you trust you county/state numbers (sorry COVID related)

[disneychrista]

So my county releases number 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

Today I started comparing number of tests to get an idea of how many tests we are doing. There are three separate testing centers they report on. Well EACH of them has numbers that have gone DOWN (day to day comparison) over the past two weeks. So now, while I trust the total number of positives (which is relatively low) I am not sure I trust the total number of tests, which then screws the % positive.

Do you trust the numbers your county/state release?

 

[low-key]

I think everyone is trying to inflate the numbers, to cover their butt for ruining the economy needlessly

 

[godisney14]

I think everyone is trying to inflate the numbers, to cover their butt for ruining the economy needlessly

Conspiracy theory?

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I think everyone is trying to inflate the numbers, to cover their butt for ruining the economy needlessly

I agree.
I think Covid19 is real, I just think it has been outrageously overblown.
To me it’s funny, we couldn’t go to church but we could go to wal mart. Better lobbyist maybe?
We couldn’t go to the beaches but we can congregate in protest. Possibly political motivation?
Locally-
-They closed a barbershop that allowed 1 customer in at a time, cleaned after each and before allowing another to enter.
-They closed a Restauraunt that had tables set up outside to allow people who bought food to sit and enjoy their meal.
We couldn’t hold funerals for our family and friends but a political theatre with thousands in attendance is allowed.
Some call it conspiracy, I think it’s glaringly obvious.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I trust my county completely. I don’t understand how all the numbers works (like when all new daily cases go to recovered instead of active), but they update daily and give percentages, hospitalizations and death counts, as well as number of tests given. We also get breakdown of age, race, underlying conditions, symptoms, etc.

I’ll say even more so the last month after a fight between our Sheriff and Health Director on the lack of transparency from the HD. (That our numbers didn’t match her strict orders).

 

[Kittyblue]

Our numbers have been going up since we've been opening up, so I think our county is reporting as accurately as they can. I think the difficult thing with reporting covid cases accurately is the people who have it but don't know, so they never get tested.

 

[disneychrista]

I think everyone is trying to inflate the numbers, to cover their butt for ruining the economy needlessly

So I take it you DON'T trust your counties numbers?

 

[kaytieeldr]

My state doesn't report by county. I trust the state and individual numbers completely.

 

[chickapin parterre]

I trust imperial county , californina numbers.....the perfect petri dish for the virus.....and hey, spell-check does not recognize petri dish.

 

[allison k]

I absolutely trust my county's numbers. But then I work in the hospital - not on a Covid floor - but I'm able to see the census and it pretty much lines up with what's reported.

 

[superme80]

I trust our numbers. They are still pretty low. My area has barely been hit at all. They have a break down by town and mine has had less than 6 cases. We are still holding pretty steady with only 9 deaths in the county. I don't doubt my area's numbers. Large cities might have had some fudging, but I don't know. I know none of my family or friends have tested positive. Quite a few have been tested and all negative.

 

[monarchsfan16]

NH releases numbers for the state, broken down by county, and, to some degree town, daily. Those numbers include confirmed cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and percent positive tests. They also let us know at press conferences every couple of days if there are any new clusters. There's now a dynamic dashboard online where we can find the numbers ourselves.

With the level of transparency they're giving, I trust the numbers. Obviously the numbers are only as accurate as the number of people that sign up for testing but, we can certainly see the trends, and right now it is looking good.

 

[mjkacmom]

I trust them. My county has over 1700 deaths, the highest in my state, there was a virtual memorial for the 35 in my town who died. I live in a town where everyone knows everyone, so I know of many who have had it. Our numbers really slowed after we shut down, March and April were pretty crazy.

 

[Christine]

I trust my state. We get numbers every day. They've made a few calculation errors along the way but have been quick to correct them and make public what they are doing wrong.

The state has a goal to test 10,000 people per day. We don't always (if ever) get to that amount but testing is way up, positivity rates, hospitalizations, and deaths are falling every day. But we were one of the states that took a VERY cautious approach and even more so with areas that were hot spots.

To the folks who think there's some big conspiracy or other motivation going on by governors: Sometimes things were not done perfectly in the beginning because it was fast moving and certain decisions have unintended consequences. Governments made decisions to keep stores open that carried essentials. This included Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target. We can look back now and wonder/criticize about whether that was fair or not. To compare that to other places like churches, restaurants, etc. isn't fair. You don't *need* to go out to eat or gather in a crowd to eat. You don't need to worship indoors with a lot of people. They are not essential to survivng life. Having your toilet break and flood your house is a problem. Having things in your house break, while you're trying to live there, is a problem. Having access to affordable groceries (Wal-mart) and pharmacies is necessary when the infrastructure is not there to deliver or have pickups.

To use these things as examples of some deeper political motivation to ruin certain segments of the society makes me sad to think that there is a segment of our society who is so cynical. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say and, yes, some of the decisions made now seem kind of crazy. Who knew people would be so bored they would flock to Home Depot every day and wait in line to get in to be entertained in there. Who knew Home Depot wouldn't better enforce their crowds? Of course it doesn't look fair when you just want to go sit in church with 200 of your church family, but I can see that this was not a conspiracy.

 

[kdonnel]

My county is #1 in the state for total cases. I trust that the numbers reported by the state are accurate. I also understand that the same numbers can be presented in multiple ways that tell the narrative the story teller wants people to see.

 

[mousefan73]

I absolutely trust my county's numbers. But then I work in the hospital - not on a Covid floor - but I'm able to see the census and it pretty much lines up with what's reported.

Gonna say A similar thing. I trust our county ( in a Germany 10000% ). Our county has 2 hospitals. My neighbor is a ICU nurse on one and a very good friend in upper management by the other. Their feedback always matches what is reported.

 

[choirfarm]

Nevermind. don't want it to get quoted out of context

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I agree.
I think Covid19 is real, I just think it has been outrageously overblown.
To me it’s funny, we couldn’t go to church but we could go to wal mart. Better lobbyist maybe?
We couldn’t go to the beaches but we can congregate in protest. Possibly political motivation?
Locally-
-They closed a barbershop that allowed 1 customer in at a time, cleaned after each and before allowing another to enter.
-They closed a Restauraunt that had tables set up outside to allow people who bought food to sit and enjoy their meal.
We couldn’t hold funerals for our family and friends but a political theatre with thousands in attendance is allowed.
Some call it conspiracy, I think it’s glaringly obvious.

Are you making comparisons of situations within your own county and state?
I live in a county that borders another state. Ours "reopened" a bit sooner , but I absolutely agree with both states Governor's actions. Both of the states are showing good trends.
That can't be said for quite a few states that reopened too early ( in my opinion).

 

[HeatherC]

UGGHH. They closed churches because there you are inside sitting with people for an extended amount of time. Singing is known to be a super spreader event and a great way to spread the virus. I sing in a church choir and I mourn that I cannot do that anymore. But I don't want any of my friends to die. Walmart, on the other hand, you go quickly with mask on and spend as little time as possible.

Honestly, the conspiracy I am beginning to see is don't warn the protesters because we want many of "those" people to die while we nice evangelical white christians are protected in so many ways from the virus. It will kill many of the protestors, unfortunately. It IS and WAS dangerous and there will be repercussions. So if anything, there is a conspiracy to kill more African American and Hispanic people because it is more deadly for them. So if "we" can get more of them out there to demonstrate, then more will die... Horrible. Absolutely horrible.

If you think that is nutty, it is no more nutty than what you suggested. You can take the numbers and the facts to spin them to your version of the conspiracy theory.

To answer the OP. I sort of trust numbers. I think some are playing with them in certain areas. They cannot be COMPLETELY accurate because of the nature of the beast. Health professionals are doing the best they can and it is complicated.

What? Protestors knew exactly what they were doing. This thing has been going on since mid March (lockdowns). Everything was closed. People obviously knew going to a large gathering like a protest has risks. To say there is a conspiracy to kill African Americans and Hispanics is totally whacked.

I cannot believe how many people just love their own convoluted conspiracy theories. For goodness sake, this is a new virus that makes a lot of people very sick and kills a lot too. We are only beginning to understand it. Looking back we can all criticize the decisions that were made. After all, hindsight is 20/20. But I do believe they were made with the best info available at the time.

I also think many Americans have a very short attention span and don’t handle adversity very well in many cases. People act like this lockdown period has been years. It’s been a few months. We are a society that wants instant gratification for everything and complain about anything that doesn’t let us have it. This thing is going to be here for a good long while. Pretending things are normal and ignoring it won’t make it go away faster. It will just prolong it and cause more sickness and deaths.

Maybe if we all followed the guidelines and did actually social distance and wear masks....which yes, have been proven to stop and slow the transmission, we could get a handle on it. Won’t happen though because we are spoiled here.

To answer the OP’s question (sorry to hijack), I personally do believe the numbers our state is putting out. I know they aren’t perfect and we will never know the exact numbers, but overall I think they are giving us the clearest picture they can.

 

[Christine]

What? Protestors knew exactly what they were doing. This thing has been going on since mid March (lockdowns). Everything was closed. People obviously knew going to a large gathering like a protest has risks. To say there is a conspiracy to kill African Americans and Hispanics is totally whacked.

FWIW, I don't think that poster specifically believed that theory but that it's just another one of the crazy theories floating out there...just as off-the-wall as someone thinking that churches were purposefully targeted for closure. But maybe I'm wrong in assuming that poster's thoughts.