May 14, 2020
May 14, 2020
Some good news for a change. An important statistic to determine if a state is doing enough testing is the 7-day average of positivity - meaning this: what is the 7-day average rate of tests that come back positive for COVID? The World Health Organization recommended positivity rate is 3-12%. If the rate is too high, it's a sign tests are given only to the sickest patients who seek medical attention, so the state does not have adequate capacity to accurately measure the prevalence of the disease. The moderately good news: Alabama's 7-day average positivity rate is exactly 10% today and has been under that rate for the last four days. The bad news: the positivity rate is ticking up. Also, not all states report these statistics accurately, so take it with a grain of salt. Here is the link to the Johns Hopkins site: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/individual-states/alabama