New Youth Sports Guidance

[kickingandscreaming]

I think one possible reason that hospitalizations and deaths are going down but positive tests are where they are is this.

Many people are back to work. If someone is working and they either feel ill or are exposed to someone that is positive they get tested. If they are positive (regardless if they have symptoms or not) they have to get tested again (and again) until they are negative before they are allowed to return to work. If someone tests positive and then gets two more positive tests before they are negative that is three positive tests from one person. all within a relatively short period of time.

Yes, this is a big deal if every positive test is used instead of just the first positive test for an individual and people are taking multiple tests after testing positive.

 

[BIGD]

Yes, this is a big deal if every positive test is used instead of just the first positive test for an individual and people are taking multiple tests after testing positive.

This is not the case. Repeat testing is not used by employers. Employers are not allowed to prevent employees from returning to work until they have a negative test unless they were hospitalized. Non hospital cases of Covid can return to work when they have been free of symptoms without the use of medication for three days. Employers can't even request a doctors clearance and definitely can't request proof of negative testing.

 

[kickingandscreaming]

This is not the case. Repeat testing is not used by employers. Employers are not allowed to prevent employees from returning to work until they have a negative test unless they were hospitalized. Non hospital cases of Covid can return to work when they have been free of symptoms without the use of medication for three days. Employers can't even request a doctors clearance and definitely can't request proof of negative testing.

Whether employers require it or not, if individuals are being tested multiple times, the "first" positive is the only one that should be used for any statistic attempting to determine the trend. If all positive tests are used and some test positive > 1, it will make trending the data difficult and inflate Rt.

 

[JumboJack]

This is not the case. Repeat testing is not used by employers. Employers are not allowed to prevent employees from returning to work until they have a negative test unless they were hospitalized. Non hospital cases of Covid can return to work when they have been free of symptoms without the use of medication for three days. Employers can't even request a doctors clearance and definitely can't request proof of negative testing.

So you’re saying that asymptomatic positive Covid cases can return to work if they are symptom free?

So it goes like this.
Person was exposed to someone that was positive.
They go get tested on Monday at one of the quick result places and it’s positive.
They can then return to work in three days of no symptoms?
Nope.

 

[Kicker4Life]

This is not the case. Repeat testing is not used by employers. Employers are not allowed to prevent employees from returning to work until they have a negative test unless they were hospitalized. Non hospital cases of Covid can return to work when they have been free of symptoms without the use of medication for three days. Employers can't even request a doctors clearance and definitely can't request proof of negative testing.

That’s not true for all employers. I know several employers who have instituted policies of 3 negative tests before returning to work. Why/How can you say “employers aren’t allowed”? The employees are paid sick leave and the tests are covered by the employers insurance.

 

[Keepermom2]

Whether employers require it or not, if individuals are being tested multiple times, the "first" positive is the only one that should be used for any statistic attempting to determine the trend. If all positive tests are used and some test positive > 1, it will make trending the data difficult and inflate Rt.

On the other side of the coin you can have people that require multiple tests per month which can distort the picture as well. In elder care facilities, the OC health department requires testing of every resident and worker every 2 weeks once there is a positive case (worker or resident). That continues on until they have 1 month with no positive results. That is generally an isolated population so should those tests be included when calculating R0? They need to break up the testing by category such that it is useful for all the non medical people trying to calculate R0. Counties can easily manipulate results to achieve a desired outcome. I am not saying that is the case but that is why I have always looked at hospitalizations to see what is happening.

When you have various labs themselves transmitting results for input into the daily data, what do you think the chances are there is a consistent process in place from lab to lab to ensure consistent and valid data is appropriately segregated by test 1, 2, or 3 etc. and/or HHS or States have the appropriate systems in place to segregate the data? Considering the fact that everyone unemployed from COVID got $600 a week federal aid for unemployment no matter how many hours a week they worked or what their pay rate was because the States did not have systems in place to handle the variables, I would say it is doubtful there are adequate systems in place to appropriately segregate the COVID test data.