When you Mix Politics and Science ..

.. you get Politics. Referenced herein in the New York Times, but I think the original attribution goes to conservative writer George Will. Thank you, George Will.

So, we have politics.

With or without the politics, we have greater and greater positivity numbers. Please note that I didn’t say ‘test numbers’. Testing doesn’t cause the infection .. it detects it. Please, let’s stay close to the facts.

Oh .. The facts (as of this writing):

• 3,739,726 US cases.
• 140,294 US deaths.
• 18.7% positivity rate in Florida (the present global epicenter). This is the percentage of positive test results .. the rate of which represents community spread (where one person can infect others).
• 20% positivity rate in Austin, TX ..
• 37% in Arizona .. and the list goes on to lesser degrees .. 5% is considered urgent.

Some notes for your reference:

• I posted Testing, Testing, Testing April 7th, describing the two types of tests (Diagnostic and Antibody: current positivity versus prior positivity and presumed recovery).
• Then, “Testing .. Tracing .. Isolating” on May 11th .. let’s discover who has it, ask them to isolate and trace their contacts to test others.
• Last,  “Behave like you have it ..” .. it matters.

I penned “I’m Confused ..” on June 14th, summarizing the cacophony and inconsistency on the messaging from myriad sources.

VP Mike Pence published (note I didn’t say ‘penned’) “There is no Second Wave” on June 16th .. just over a month ago.

Pence was wrong.

Well, wait. In a tragic way, he was right, but only in that we are still in the first wave and not the second. This is worse, because we’re in the season that is typically quiet for virus spread.  On June 28th, I posted “Here We Were Again ..“, where I described this as a tide, and not a wave .. according to the experts, we’ll see the wave when cold and flu season returns in the fall. Mr. Pence is not referring to that ‘wave’ .. Johns Hopkins confirms this and goes into much more detail in “First and Second Waves of Coronavirus“.

:: sigh ::

Testing is so backed up in some areas (Georgia included), that it takes over five days to get a result, positive or negative. This means that people who are tested should be quarantined until they get their results. I’m near-certain that people are not doing that, and are instead, celebrating their results when they come in .. but not knowing if they have the virus from the previous days’ activities.

Some facts:

• We need more tests and faster test result turnaround.
• We need those who have taken tests to isolate until they get their results.
• We need everyone to wear a mask. I go deep on this in “Wear / Where’s Your Mask?” back in early May.
• We need everyone to “Behave like you have it ..“.

Apologies. I’m going on and on and on here .. happens when I have the news on in the background.

Let’s close this off .. please step away from the politics and into wearing a mask.

Be smart. Be an adult (even if you’re a kid, because you can spread it too). Do the right thing. Stay home when you can. Wear a mask when you cannot.