Knowledge aggregation for public health

 Knowledge aggregation for public health

Current COVID statistics will not provide the full picture.

Posted by associate editor Suzanne Cheavens

Despite the figures, COVID-19 is still downloaded by people. Grace Franklin, the director of public health for San Miguel County, addressed the Board of County Commission on Wednesday that her colleagues now had to rely on data other than reported pending cases to follow the outbreak, which is in its third year.

The county's COVID dashboard current shows only one recorded positive case, a figure that does not correspond to indications of a larger disease burden as seen in samples taken from the Telluride Sewage Treatment Plant. The divergence is mostly caused by at-home testing and the concomitant failure to notify local authorities of positive cases, according to Franklin.

She notified panelists Lance Waring, Kris Holstrom, and Hilary Cooper at their regularly meeting scheduled in Norwood that there had been a roughly 20% spike in cases and an approximately 9% and 20% increase in hospitalizations during the previous two weeks. "PCR testing have decreased dramatically across the state as well. One point to note is that because of the increased population density in that state, the % positive is also skewed owing to insufficient testing. However, there is genuine concern that the number of instances in the community is growing as a whole because we are observing this increase in the other measures. Either internationally, this makes sense.

Axios Denver reports that the most recent Colorado statistics indicate infections rose for a third week in a row to their highest level since August. With 218 patients now being hospitalised with COVID-19, hospital admissions are growing statewide. The data isn't a fair depiction of the COVID-19 risk in Colorado since home-test results are not shown, and many individuals aren't reporting symptoms anymore, according to Axios.Weekly data will now be reported instead of daily measures by San Miguel County, the State of Colorado, and the Centers for Disease Control. The present standalone COVID-19 page on the county website will soon get taken down, so according Franklin, whose department is striving to combine all local health information into an one online spot. What will survive will be...

 Test results from wastewater treatment and statistics like hospitalizations will endure.

Except for anecdotal data, "we aren't really seeing anything going on locally," she added. There is just this apparent discrepancy here between reported cases. And what we're seeing in terms of disease burden from wastewater stats as well as regional and national patterns for hospitalized cases.

Franklin emphasized the significance of becoming inoculated once more.

"I know I've brought it up a little bit every time, but it seems to be the military drum right now. However, staying up to date on flu shots and the latest Omicron booster is the best methodology to properly safeguard all those around you this winter.