[News] Coronavirus in US: COVID-19 Infection Figures Will Erratic Following Holidays

[#Steeven.™]

The coronavirus test numbers that have guided much of the U.S. response to combatting the pandemic are set to be erratic in the coming week, experts said this week, with fewer people being tested over the holiday and testing sites with shorter hours.

The result could be a potential drop in reported infections that would offer the illusion that infections are easing when, in reality, the numbers will say little about how the country is doing in the fight against coronavirus. The number of people who have tested positive in the country surpassed 13 million on Friday, Johns Hopkins University said.

"I hope people don't misinterpret the numbers and believe that there was not a big increase as a result of the Thanksgiving holiday and consequently make plans for Christmas, Hanukkah and other trips," said Dr. Leana Wen, professor at George University. Washington and an ER doctor.

A similar pattern occurs on the weekends. As some testing centers, laboratories and state offices are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, coronavirus cases often drop on Sundays and Mondays, but rise on Tuesday.

Dr. Mark Rupp, professor and chief of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, said the effect of the holiday will almost certainly be a magnified version of the weekend numbers. Thursday's holiday is going to exacerbate discrepancies in numbers over the Thanksgiving weekend, deceptively lowering reported figures for four and five days before skyrocketing, once test results are level. normal.

Johns Hopkins University reported a spike to more than 2 million tests a few days before Thanksgiving, when people were preparing to travel, but that number dropped to less than 1.2 million tests on Thanksgiving. . That latest figure, as well as the numbers of positive cases, which had fallen by a third on Friday, could be adjusted as more results are known.

Experts fear how people might interpret the situation after the long weekend, especially if it takes several weeks before the effects of exposure to the virus during the holiday are reflected in the data.