As far as I am concerned, I didn't post anything "hateful", or "unkind", I simply stated that you were factually wrong. And if your misinformation was relayed to you by a "medical professional", I'd love to have a chat with that person. Half the problems with this pandemic start with totally inaccurate posts on social media, as well as hype promulgated by politicians and the media

PS: Personal knowledge, I'll take your word for it. Accurate---not so much. Sorry, but that is simply the medical facts, nothing "hateful" or "unkind" about it.

I'm a retired physician, so I'd like the WH and CDC be more emphatic about social distancing, vaccinations and masking. There's nothing hysterical, socialist or communist (LOL) about our public health issuances. On another topic, BTW...Trump just told everyone to get the vaccine and the booster.

Do you agree with me that a precise definition of what constitutes "a case" of COVID beyond a positive test is needed???? I have a feeling that applying a stricter definition would significantly cut down on the "record number of new cases reported"

Right ON! As a retired MD, I'm tired of all the anti-vaxxers, naysayers, conspiracy nuts. BTY, throw away your cloth masks and wear a KN95 or similar. Don't be selfish. Protect yourself and your neighbors.

long lines for virus testing
 

Thats easy answer Sherlock....Sheep....all weak sheep following the media rule. Scare the crap out of everyone. Get in Line.....

Right on??????? You believe that COVID "stays in your body forever"????? I think you might have misstated that.

What is testing going to get you? Maybe at this minute, you might test negative, but once you do something 5 mins after your test, you might get infected. That’s why testing before a cruise makes no sense because if everybody got tested right before the cruise, why have there been 48 and more people that tested positive after the cruise. 1 reason is that you have to take your test after so many days that you have come in contact with somebody with covid. So you might be 3 days into your vacation after you tested negative but now you have it.
“You can’t fix stupid”

OR, live your normal life and worry about infection when or IF it ever hits you. As for being selfish if not wearing a mask, are other selfish if they insist on you to wear your mask for their safety?
Had my shots and won't tell others to get the shots or not to get the shots. That is their personal choice. On the other hand, I refused to be bullied into doing something that I am not sure of. When I decided to get the shots, I did not do it for my neighbors or other shoppers at the grocery store. I did it solely so that I would not pass it on to my spouse. I (we) were told that once inoculated, we could not pass it on to others. We were told that we would not catch covid, period. Then they said that if we did catch it, we wouldn't be hospitalized. Then they said that it is possible to be hospitalized but we won't die. Then they said that even though we had the inoculation, we could pass it on to others. First they said that a positive test should result in two weeks of quarantine. Then they said ten days, and now they are suggesting five days. Hey, I get it they are learning and new things happen all the time. As someone once said "he is not flip-flopping, he's evolving."
Since we live in a FREE society, we enjoy making our own choices, and maybe our own mistakes. That's Freedom.
Do not accuse someone of being ignorant, just because they do not agree with you. Do not accuse someone of not being patriotic just because they will not do what you wish them to do.
You are not my responsibility, and neither are my neighbors. It is YOUR responsibility to protect yourself. If you do not want me to be near you when I am without a mask, then stay away from me. It is not my responsibility to avoid passing you, and not my responsibility to protect you. I followed the instructions to get vaccinated and now I do not wear a mask unless I wish to frequent a business that requires it. If you are scared of me, then stay home or run and hide when I am out and about.
When I use the word "you" I am not referring directly to the poster I am replying to, but to others in general.

sportsguy typing for coachk who has access to hospital testing data, and who both got into a heated breakfast discussion, sportsguy looking for a slice of the data to prove a point, and coachk describing the data slice is not possible, and the temperature fell back to count chocula :popcorn:

counts yes at any one particular point in time, relative percentages, maybe. . depends upon the bias of the population being tested and the weight of that population, and the stage of the pandemic. . .

Looking at actual hospital data over the last two months by week, CoachK's hospital has three high level classifications of patients being testing, based upon the source of the testing order:

asymptomatic,
symptomatic,
no patient history, state sponsored free testing

All have gone up due the increased transmissibility of omicron, BUT the rates of change of the three groups exhibit much different rates, and from very different starting points.

asymptomatic and no patient history have both doubled, though off different and lower percentages from a month ago.

symptomatic has gone up 80% but off a base of twice the percentage of the prior two groups.

The first reason for the symptomatic to be significantly higher is due to a required checklist to be passed to have reasonable confidence in a meaningful test. The second reason is that with the advent of home rapid tests, more known positives are requesting a PCR test for employers and treatment knowledge. . which comes through the symptomatic patient classification.

Which percent most closely represents random sampling of the population? the no patient information classification. .

Which group has more than 50% of the testing counts? the symptomatic group. . . add them all together and you get an average number weighted by patient classification and count of tests performed.

And to add to the analysis, the testing counts have doubled in total, but not all groups have doubled in testing counts. . .

So, without this type of detailed data available on a weekly basis, and without statistics training, we would recommend that people really stop trying to out research each other with the whataboutism of this report vs that report. All you are doing is to argue what you have read either first or last, and from there what you believe to be factual to feel informed, and to feel knowledgable in the information age with your inherent biases. . .

We of course respect and give thanks to the medical community of the doctors/nurses on this site, and working with the near real time data at hospitals, trying to do no harm and help every patient in the order in which they appear. . . always with incomplete information.

sportsguy and coachk

Well...........that just makes too much sense.

I know I have said this at least a few times on this forum but I will repeat for those who have not seen my postings..........

Anyone who is vulnerable (immune compromised), vaccinated and boosted or not, should not consider leaving their home unless wearing an N95 or KN95 mask. Please don't expect everyone around you to protect you at this point as that is a lost cause.

Don't take any chances; you must protect yourself.

But now you're excluding the whole cadre of people who are making a career out of virtue signaling :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

People are getting tested because they have to be negative in order to return to work, or they have to quarantine. Others don't want to infect others if they test positive.

I think more people are getting tested, than actually got the vaccine. Why stand in line for hours for a Maybe ?

Or, as Tommy Lee Jones put it in "Men in Black", "people are dumb, panicky animals, and you know it"