Local Government TV

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Covid-19 Appears to Be Waning in Lehigh Valley

When the Covid-19 pandemic first broke, I provided links to data from CDCWHOPa. Dep't HealthPSU Mapping , Bethlehem Covid-19 Dashboard and  NorCo Covid-19 Dashboard. These links are still on my left sidebar. My reason for doing so was so that you would have access to the facts,  unimpeachable data that would be far superior to the numerous news stories that either trivialized this outbreak or tried to scare the hell out of you. Unfortunately, with the exception of the local dashboards, these tools have done nothing but add confusion. PSU Mapping has lost interest in the virus. and both CDC and WHO have often contradicted each other.  Pa. Dep't Health, in turn, contradicts the local data.

Numbers cruncher Steve Thode has soldiered on, trying to make sense of the hodgepodge of inconsistent data. Here's his latest.

Because the DoH data reporting has become so ridiculously error-prone, here are some stats I have been able to get from more than one source.

NorCo reports 2,525 tests from August 3-9 with 68 positives. That's a positivity rate of 2.69%;

DoH says 292 NorCo residents have died from COVID-19 with 2 deaths since July 16;

NorCo's COVID-19 website says 298 NorCo residents have died - none in more than 2 weeks;

Lehigh reports 2,965 tests from August 3-9 with 122 positives. That's a positivity rate of 4.11%;

DoH says 337 Lehigh residents have died from COVID-19 with 7 deaths since July 16;

Lehigh's COVID-19 website also says 337 Lehigh residents have died. Lehigh's crack team hasn't updated its daily case and death graphs since July 18. The person responsible must be enjoying their extended vacation;

The state positivity rate for the period August 3-9 is somewhere between 3.42% and 3.58% depending on which DoH data source you use - don't get me started.

A positivity rate of 2.69% is excellent, especially since the county has increased testing. It does appear that NorCo has seen a downward trend, from 26 cases on July 29 to just 3 on Monday. From July 27 through August 10, the county dashboard reports zero deaths.

It seems logical that Lehigh County, which is slightly larger than NorCo,would have a few more cases and deaths.

2 comments:

  1. Numbers waning..... and Wolf and Levine still crippling select businesses and small business. PA will soon be NJ, where businesses leave in droves and go where they are appreciated and protected and not taxed to death.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great news and shows that the Lehigh Valley knows what they're doing and in general doing their best to observe protocols and avoid spreading the virus. Wish other regions could do the same.

    ReplyDelete

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