Florida changes coronavirus data on the percent of tests coming back positive
Source: Tampa Bay Times
Before the pandemic, so-called "test positivity" was a little-known infectious disease statistic. But over the past few months, scores of concerned people have had their eyes on the data point, which measures the rate at which Florida's COVID tests come back positive and can help spot upticks in virus transmission.
There are numerous ways to calculate the metric, and Florida has used a relatively rare method of filtering out residents who have already tested positive before. That, in effect, resulted in a lower rate and created a discrepancy in total testing numbers compared with other popular pandemic data trackers, namely the COVID Tracking Project, which also feeds the Johns Hopkins University dashboard. Both trackers have consistently posted a higher rate of positive tests in Florida than the state dashboard and daily reports, leading many to question Florida's data.
On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Health published a backdated data set of "test encounters," which will provide the total number of people tested per day among those who have never tested positive. The COVID Tracking Project, a nonprofit and volunteer-powered effort, will use that field as opposed to its old category of testing which only counted people tested for the first time.
The end result? The tracker is adding 3.7 million tests to its Florida data, and the positivity rate on the Johns Hopkins website will go down, matching the state's. That has prompted Florida coronavirus data skeptics on social media to accuse the state of covering up unfavorable virus metrics, but Jason Salemi, an biostatitician at the University of South Florida who closely tracks the data, doesn't see it that way.
Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/10/29/florida-changes-coronavirus-data-on-the-percent-of-tests-coming-back-positive/
Hey look! Florida's positivity rate dropped in half overnight! Once again, Florida tries to cook the books even though the number of people who have died per a week often exceeds California, a state with the twice the population of Florida.
https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/covid-19-death-toll-could-be-higher-than-floridas-data-shows-cdc-says/
[div class"excerpt"]COVID-19 death toll could be higher than Florida's data shows, CDC says
TAMPA (WFLA) - There are new concerns that more people in Florida may be dying from the pandemic than we thought.
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our state's official death toll could be off by thousands.
Researchers are not saying that Florida is being deceptive, but what does constitute a coronavirus death?
Right now, Florida is reporting 16,709 people have died directly from the virus. But new research from the CDC finds the true death toll may be much greater. Researchers believe more than 6,152 Floridians died this year than expected. They too are alleged victims of the pandemic.
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