Q&A of the Day – Coronavirus testing assumptions
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
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Today’s entry: Testing statistics is a worthless measure. USA will always top the charts in test count#s. The death rate of covid-19 patients is the best metric. A highly efficient & innovative country like the USA will undoubtedly test a lot compared to most other countries.
Bottom Line: It’s true that when it comes to testing, we don’t know what we don’t know. No tests, no confirmation of cases or related deaths. However, as I’ve continued to report the facts daily as we know them, and as the United States has become the epicenter for cases, I’m continuing to come across misinformation and/or assumptions. I want to be clear about something. We know how many tests are happening around the world and can compare infection rates.
The United States has now conducted the highest total reported number of tests, around a million most recently, but everything is relative. Coming out of the weekend there were 28 countries that had tested a higher percentage of their population than the United States. The top five countries for test rates in the world are Iceland, UAE, Bahrain, Norway and Switzerland. The positive test rate in the United States is 16th highest. In other words, yes - we’re conducting a lot of tests and yes, our population is larger than many countries – however our total case count isn’t just a product of a lot of tests. Americans are far more likely to test positive than people from most countries. We’ve seen a positive rate around 4% world-wide. In the United States it’s been around 15% - with about a 10% rate in Florida. Incidentally, the positive test rate in China is actually lower than it has been in the United States. Think about that one for a moment. A higher percentage of Americans have tested positive for the virus than the territory where the outbreak began. That speaks to the effectiveness of locking down and heeding the warning of public officials.
My frustration is the effort by some to attempt to minimize the threat, not respecting the warnings of public officials and ultimately putting more people at risk for a longer period of time. That’s why I feel it’s important to continue to address misinformation and to encourage everyone to treat this as seriously as our leaders, from the local to the federal level, want us to. None of this is fun or desirable but it is our reality for the next month at a minimum. The sooner we accept it and act accordingly, the quicker this will end.