Letters to the editor for July 18, 2020

Meaningless stat

The July 16 staff report “Florida surpasses 300,000 virus cases” stated, “Of the total 53,142 COVID-19 tests given in Alachua County, the rate for positive results is now about 4.4%.” This figure, taken directly from the state’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, is both meaningless and misleading, as it averages all results since testing began.

As recently as the end of May, the positive rate was only 0.3%. As of July 5, the most recent data made available, the positive rate was 6.5%. Only by looking at positive rates over time can we understand the true situation.Centers for […]

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