Half of newTN covid infections now come from "unknown source"

[Tanuki]

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2020/06/28/tennessee-coronavirus-half-infections-come-from-unknown-source-community-spread/3257351001/

"For the first time since the coronavirus came to Tennessee in early March, you are now equally as likely to contract the virus from a stranger as a relative, friend or coworker, demonstrating how the virus is increasingly circulating through communities, state officials announced last week.

Previously, a large majority of new infections could be traced to household contacts or clusters at work places, Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said. But now, as more Tennesseans leave their homes to eat or shop or socialize, half of infections come from an unknown source.
.....
The rise of untraceable infections is an alarming milestone in a state where the coronavirus is strengthening and more people are returning to reopening businesses and public spaces. In recent weeks, the Tennessee coronavirus outbreak has hospitalized more people than ever, and the record high for active infections has been broken almost daily. The state reported the highest-ever daily count of new infections – 1,410 – on Friday.
...
During a conference call with members of the Nashville City Council on Thursday, Metro Health Director Michael Caldwell conceded city statistics might be skewed because of the challenge of tracking the virus in the crowded bar district of Lower Broadway, where many customers don't wear masks."...(more)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Well, gosh.

Just imagine. You go out somewhere, some stranger standing next to you is infected and you get the virus. I mean, who could possibly have thought that would happen?

[Nevilledog]

2. Contact tracing won't help with that.

[kurtcagle]

4. It can, but ...

Most current contact tracing basically makes use of Bluetooth signal tracing, which identifies the IP address of the various phones and other devices as a person moves through the environment. There are some significant limitations to that - both because it's dealing with potentially sensitive information (such as names and addresses of people in bar or similar venue) and because there's no easy way to determine exactly how far away the signal came from, within a radius of about forty meters. Figure a couple of hundred people in a bar at any given time, with people moving in and out of range on a regular basis, and the amount of data being collected gets large quickly.

The other issue you run into is what do you do with this information. You can readily track a person from his cell phone, but even if you identify a potential vector, after the typical covid ten-fourteen day incubation period, that person could actually be post-contagious by the time you caught up with him.

Perhaps a better solution is for stores to employ bouncers and the requirement of using a certain app to leave a signature key at the door that identifies that person, and that can determine, to within a few minutes when a person leaves. Again this is public safety vs. civil liberties here, and the potential for discrimination is all too obvious.

[Nevilledog]

6. The anti-maskers would lose their minds.

[Alacritous Crier]

3. Dumbasses!

When I go to stores here in rural Eastern TN I never see more than 10% of customers wearing masks.

Pitiful!

GOTV

[NightWatcher]

5. Are those assholes still piling into church?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. Some of them are surely lying, but...

... it's not surprising if people are "out and about" very much, especially without masks.

The liars wouldn't want to get their buddies quarantined.