Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Governor Gavin Newsom confirms more COVID-19 teste are being done but the percentage of positive tests are going down.
During a press conference on Monday, Newsom stated the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases is at 7,764, which is down by 21% from a week ago. Hospitalizations are also down 10% and ICU hospitalizations are down 5% over the past two weeks for California.
“Encouraging signs, but one week does not make the kind of trend that gives us confidence to generate headlines,” he said, noting it will take another few weeks to feel “confident.”
Newsom stated a combination of mask-wearing, fewer gatherings, and the closure of indoor business operations appear to have had an impact on the decrease in cases.
“At the same time, we can quickly find ourselves back to where we were just a few weeks ago, a month ago – with significant increases – if we do not maintain our vigilance,” he said. “This virus is not going away. It’s not just going to take Labor Day weekend off, it’s not going to take Halloween off or the holidays off. Until we have quality therapeutics and until we have a vaccine, we are going to be living with this virus.”
While the cases have decreased slightly, the death rate continues to increase with the 14-day average at 121 deaths per day.
The Governor stated his “biggest area of concern” is the Central Valley of California where cases and hospitalizations are surging.
Last week he announced a $52 million investment in fighting the virus in Fresno, Tulare and Stanislaus counties where some of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates are located in the state. Today he announced an additional $6.5 million in philanthropic aid will help Central Valley residents in need of food, rent, utilities, and other supplies.
Positive rate means ZERO – just like positive rate for common flu means nothing. Only numbers that are important are:
1) % of people testing positive that require hospitalization due to CV (by age, by pre-existing health conditions)
2) % of people testing positive that require ICU due to CV (by age, by pre-existing health conditions)
3) % of people testing positive that die due to CV (by age, by pre-existing health conditions)
It is logical to see positive cases go up as younger people co-mingle more and are fed up of being cooped up. However, these people will drive the hospitalization rate much lower since majority are asymptomatic. The rate of high risk should be going down given the known risk. These people are not going to house parties and bars. If they are getting CV then it is due to negligence.
Because government officials refuse to provide meaningful information all we get is political hyberbole.
SB County has a high positive rate because tests are hard to come by. Governments at all levels have failed, we’re five months in and testing availability is way too low and time to get test results is way too sure.
So we only care about deaths now?