Now wait a minute... "The new figure now includes people who tested positive for COVID-19 and those who have symptoms and were in close contact with someone who tested positive."
So now in #Colorado we're including people as positive who haven't tested at positive. Anyone with flu symptoms who was on contact with someone with the #coronavirus is now included in this stat. Is everyone doing this? Or is there some need in Colorado to inflate the numbers?
@SecondJon they're still reporting only confirmed cases here, but that could change in the coming days. I wouldn't ascribe it to any ulterior motives, though.
There will some with coronavirus who are never tested, so the number of positive tests is an undercount of those who have the disease. On the other hand, there will be some people with a cold/flu who had coincidental contact with a coronavirus patient, so the symptoms+contact figure is an overcount.
I think that up to this point, the higher prevalence of the flu has led to the undercount being the lesser of two evils (i.e. off by less than the overcount). But if coronavirus infections reach the point that the testing infrastructure is unable to keep up, that will change.
Shocking to no one, twenty four hours after changing the stats to include people in the #coronavirus stats who haven't even been tested, the governor of #Colorado issues a stay at home order.