If you get the COVID contact call
 

There were 39 new positives reported for Sumter Co today. This is certainly from the increased testing being done as the number of tests was very high. These are nasal swabs thus they represent actively infected and infectious people who are out and about.

I am starting this thread to help people who may get a call from the Health Department understand the process.

When a person has a positive nasal swab they are contacted by the Health Department and asked to give names and contact information for persons they had more than casual contact with. This means they don't list the cashier at Publix or their server at Cody's. Just people where the risk is definitely increased. Of course that doesn't mean the cashier is no risk from the exposure but rather the line has to be drawn somewhere.

The health department will have its tracers call the known contacts. If you receive this call, the tracer does NOT know the name, or the location of your exposure. The only thing the tracer has is that you have been exposed, and the date given by the ill person for their contact with you.

You will be given information on COVID symptoms, even though you probably know them. You will be given information on where you can be tested. If you have symptoms it will be asked that you do get tested but you cannot be forced to be tested. If you have symptoms the medical staff at the Health Dept will do additional contact and follow-up. The tracer will offer to answer your questions but they are NOT giving medical advice and may not even be medically trained people. The only function of the tracer is to inform you of your exposure and determine if at that moment you have any symptoms of COVID. And some minimal precautionary information.

You will be asked to self isolate for 14 days from the date of your last known exposure. If you have any symptoms you will asked to isolate from others in your household not just the public. If you are more than minimally ill you will be advised to see guidance from your own doctor. You will asked about 20 questions to determine your status and whether your situation presents a particular public health risk. For example you were exposed and you work in a nursing home or at the jail.

In Sumter county there is a cell phone text system for follow up. If you agree to being enrolled in the text system you will receive a text every day until your 14 day period ends. It will ask if you have developed any symptoms. You text back Yes meaning you are sick and a person will call you from the Health Dept. If you text back No then you are good for 24 hours. If you do not reply you will be contacted. If you decline the cell phone text you will be called daily.

If you receive a call and believe you are being scammed you can check directly with the Sumter County Health Dept. 352-569-3102

The people lining up for testing are not ill. They may be mildly symptomatic or symptom free. 5% are contagious. Remember that in your daily activities. One of twenty Villagers is actively infectious if the sample of people being tested is representative of the community. Look at the photo on the other news website. There is a photo of our peers, waiting for testing, not social distancing. I can't tell about masks from the picture. But this is representative of who is positive.

Good info, thanks.

In the past, big jumps have been substantially attributed to the prisions. Think more than 60 were reported last week.

Blueash, thanks for the interesting post. I wondered how contact tracing worked.

Thanks for the info. Is there a site that shows the percentage of positive results per county? An increase in the percent who test positive is more telling to me that the total number of positives.

You can always see the latest daily information

Start at Home | Florida Department of Health COVID-19 Outbreak

Go down the page to just under the map to the Case Monitoring line and select the far right option for County report. This will open a new tab and you have to go way down to find Sumter Co's data.
It does NOT have some pieces of information you might wish to know like new hospitalizations or new deaths. You only get cumulative totals for those. So if you want to see older data COVID-19 Data Reports | Florida Disaster has some data but not the county by county report. That may be online somewhere but I haven't found it. So you'll need to write down the daily numbers to compare to the next day.

Very informative OP post. I feel so lucky to have this forum and the amazing people and information from it.

Florida Contact Tracing: Not So.
 

Non-existent.


As Florida sets records for Covid-19 cases, health authorities often fail to do contact tracing - CNN


"CNN spoke with 27 Floridians, or their family members, who'd tested positive for Covid-19. Of those, only five said they had received a call from health authorities asking for their contacts."

"It's unclear how many contact tracers are employed by the state of Florida, as spokespersons for the Department of Health gave CNN two different numbers.
"More than 1,600 individuals, including students, epidemiologists and other staff from across the Department, are currently involved in contact tracing every positive case of COVID-19 in Florida," Candy Sims, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County wrote to CNN."

If you've been contacted after testing positive for CV19 in Florida, You're a Unicorn.

The Villages is flying"Blind" on CV19.

If you get tested and the results are positive and you are comforted that it’s the result of increased testing...Congratulations!

Thank you , Kahuna. It is refreshing to read a post from someone who is not in a state of denial.

Increased testing doesn’t cause more positive cases. Spreading of the virus most likely through social contacts is the cause of more positive cases. Neither does taking a pregnancy test cause more pregnancies.

If you get the COVID 19 Call
 

Looks like Sumter County is doing pretty well compared to much of the rest of Florida. Marion and Lake counties have really spiked upward recently.

Facts not in evidence:

First, of the 39 positives, 25 were Villagers, which is 3% of total tested, so 3 out of 100 if sample tested is representative, which it is most likely not. Not many people take the time or risk to wait in a line for covid 19 testing just for the heck of it. If you test negative it doesn't mean you won't catch it the next day. Most people who go to get tested have a reason to do so, maybe they have mild symptoms, maybe they played softball with the guy who was positive, a friend of a friend tested positive. So extrapolating numbers or making conclusions from a group of people who went to get tested is nonsensical.

How do you know they are not ill, can you tell just by looking? I assume you are just assuming.

How do you know they are "out and about?" This may be the first time they have left their homes for 3 months, so they could get tested.

The photo is misleading as the long line is taken from an angle that compresses distance. The people in the foreground are social distancing and it's very probable the rest are as well. Raise your hand if you would get up close and personal in a covid 19 testing line.

I blew up the photo, 90% of the people are wearing masks, can't tell for the rest because photo is not hi res.

Your contact tracing description sounds great, but in practice it does not appear to be working. I know several people who got calls from their friends who tested positive, they never got a call from contact tracers.

My friend was just diagnosed - 74 years old has COPD - completely asymptomatic.

Also if you get a positive result and they retest you and it’s still positive. They count that as a new test , so one person could could be counted as several positives results , which is a misleading number

You're kidding right? Of course more testing could lead to more positives. Using your pregnancy logic, if I tested 100 women and they came back with 20 positives and then the next day tested tested 1000 women and came back with 100 positive that would be an increase in positive cases. The difference is the PERCENT positive. That's why all I care about is the PERCENTAGE of positive cases, which truly show the threat level.

According to the FL Covid web site, the percentages are calculated based on new positives and not people who previously tested positive.

Quote "These counts include the number of people for whom the department received PCR or antigen laboratory results by day. This percent is the number of people who test positive for the first time divided by all the people tested that day, excluding people who have previously tested positive." Unquote.

Was the contact info of the people you know given to the Health Dept. by the 'tested positive' individuals? Or were the 'tested positives' never contacted by the Health Dept. in order to begin the contract tracing procedures?

If you study the line list of deaths on the Florida COVID website linked above, almost every death was someone in the 70-80-90 and even 100 year old age group. Surely some of these older folks were ready to pass on due to old age or other complications, but get counted as a COVID death if they just happen to test positive for it. The last death listed in Sumter county was an 87 year old male, on APRIL 30! None in May, June or July so far.

I use:
Experience

The site is run by a coronavirus data specialist who used to report it for Florida but left because she said the numbers were not being reported accurately. For example, if one had tested positive, and then tested to see if the virus were gone, every time that person re-tested it was considered as another test and another infected or not infected person, which was skewing the results.

A person I know signed up to get tested but didn’t show up for the test. Later she was told her test was positive. Wonder how often mistakes like these are occurring.

Always good info and advice. Thanks.

Right. And the positivity rate is the best comparison. It had been well under 10% but is now 15-16%. So it is clearly spreading at a faster rate.

I can't make it much clearer. Several friends got calls from their friends who had tested positive to warn them. The "several friends" never got a call from any contact tracers. I don't know if the friends who tested positive were contacted.

25 of those tested that day were from TV. That is 3% of total tests that day (745) Anything under 5% is considered good by health authorities.

Also the percent positive stats you are quoting may not be accurate as some labs do not report negative tests, which skews positivity higher.

COVID test positivity is not a meaningful statistic because not all negatives are reported - Alachua Chronicle

and I believe that 24 of those 36 in Sumter were in the villages.

It was reported today that the entire state is just over 9% positive. Sumter county is much less. The virus is not going away. You can learn to live with it and enjoy your life or you can follow Dr Fauci’s advice and do nothing.

"The photo is misleading as the long line is taken from an angle that compresses distance. The people in the foreground are social distancing and it's very probable the rest are as well. Raise your hand if you would get up close and personal in a covid 19 testing line.

I blew up the photo, 90% of the people are wearing masks, can't tell for the rest because photo is not hi res."
thanks, i've made this point in the past, but you explained it in a more exact way. and yes, these tests are for finding people with the anti-bodies, per technician performing the tests @ Walgreens lake deaton plaza.

I’d like to know, the number of negative COVID tests in comparison to number positive tests, by age and date. Why isn’t this being published?

What is the ratio of negative to positive tests? Does anyone know?

Interesting information, thank you. I am more interested in how many deaths that are attributed to COVID-19 as compared to the ones that tested positive. Anyone can be tested positive, as you know but it's like talking about folks with the flu or a cold. How many actually die from it and WHEN. Because even though there are more test positives, there are also LESS deaths. And that is the reason I like the information that you provided. I still feel reasonably safe. Actually, I feel totally safe and only worry about my spouse.
Thanks again for the information.

Correct and testing more people for pregnancies will reveal more pregnant people, as is true for any other testing. And, as a parallel to what you stated, testing does not cause more pregnancies, coitus does (rather obvious) … I'm having difficulty grasping your point? :icon_wink:

Fred

Today's Sumter data, not sure of current prison/correctional facility inpact. Burnell and Coleman were over 200 last time I checked.

I want to express my special thanks to those that are taking care of themselves and staying home. It makes my shopping so much easier and never a line at the register when I get there.:thumbup: :thumbup:

Others care about other things, perhaps more poignant. You are welcome to care about whatever you like and you should afford others the same privilege. And NO, I'm not kidding, wrong!

Fred

Just curious, why are some people trying to under estimate the number of positive cases by manipulating the data? How does that benefit anyone? Ignore it does not change facts. If you try to ignore gravity and jump off the balcony....

No, but it IDENTIFIES more cases. Actually, not cases, just positive test results

Unfortunately, this changed when today's update was posted. A 52 year old male passed on July 6 raising the total for Sumter County to 18.

Do you mind providing the URL for that screenshot?

Keep in mind that Lake and Marion have populations more than 3 times that of Sumter. So for a rough equivalency you need to multiply Sumter stats by 3 to compare with the other two counties.

Correct, except in Florida, testing is up 80%, cases are up 162%. So the increase in cases is not solely due to increased testing, not by a long shot.

Twitter

Antibodies can only be screened for by BLOOD TESTING not nasal swab testing. Nasal swab will be positive or negative and can change daily, today negative tomorrow positive and visa versa