Dr. Birx tagged my state today - says Md. positive test rate vs. the # of tests is highest in nation

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Fenit Nirappil @FenitN 32m
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, raised alarms about a high positivity rate for D.C. area tests. Mayor's office had said rate should be below 10 percent to reopen. It's 18 percent and they stopped mentioning that metric. twitter.com/FenitN/status/1263919085525651456

from Patch:

MARYLAND — In the past month, the Maryland Department of Health has reported the results from more than 100,000 new coronavirus tests in the state. As more Marylanders are getting tested, the hope is that the rate of those who test positive decreases.

One week ago (day that Gov. Larry Hogan lifted the state's stay-at-home order), about 20.2 percent of those tested in Maryland were positive for the virus. (36,986 confirmed cases of the virus in Maryland).

Statewide (as of May 22), 44,424 people have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Maryland Department of Health, an addition of 893 new confirmed cases in the past day.

As of Friday morning, about 19.5 percent of those tested were confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus, based on state health data.

Maryland has the highest positivity rate in the country Friday, second only to Puerto Rico, which has a positivity rate of 100 percent, according to a study of real-time data by Johns Hopkins University.

Johns Hopkins researchers say the positivity rate is an important indicator of whether the state is conducting enough testing to track the potential spread in communities, and a lower rate of positivity is the goal for a safe reopening.

watch:

related (May 19):

Link to tweet

[soothsayer]

1. Maybe the South Korean tests are more accurate?

Or less, but I’m thinking more.

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3. this has nothing to do with the accuracy of tests

...this John Hopkins study confirms my worst fear that there's widespread infection hiding in plain sight.

Now our stay-at-home order is lifted, and Memorial Day weekend on the horizon.

Hogan warned us our stae would look like NY by Easter. He bought some time with the SAHO, but it looks like he's moved away from that limiting factor much too soon.

[11 Bravo]

2. And my beloved Old Dominion is right behind you.

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4. did you expect to be at the top of that list?

...I mean, I'm one of the worst pessimists about the state of my town, but I wasn't thinking we'd be in this unfortunate group.

[11 Bravo]

6. Hell no! But I'm in NOVA (about 8 miles from the DC line) ...

and apparently we're now a hot spot.

[crazylikafox]

5. This must be why Hogan started testing the asymptomatic this week.

He's trying to get the positive test rate down. Scary. I'm in Maryland too.

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7. you read and hear complaining from these, I guess, trumpers in my state

...screaming open this or that, but this is the real rub for our states.

It's one thing for Hogan to fail to get a handle on outbreaks. But he's botched his cure by opening too soon. He talked about a 'regional' challenge, always trying to draw in D,C, and Virginia into his discussions, as well as he should have. Yet he failed any alliance he might have forseen by reneging on his committment to keep the lid on things until the state got a responsible handle on the entire outbreak.

Piecemeal won't do here. You can't assume one part of the state is safe when you have such an active commuter base which operates from NY, through Pa., and on down to NC. One unfortunate or reckless soul is enough to set our states afire.

[bullimiami]

8. It means next to nothing and she should know it.

Without either testing everyone or randomly testing to get a reasonable estimate.
Everyone has different criteria for who gets tested.
That skews the results to pointlessness.

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9. no

...this is revealing a wider swath of infections than has been presented. It's not Brix's study, It's a John Hopkins report, amplified by the World Health Organization.

How the GDH is that nothing?

Link to tweet