Covid “growth” rate and each state’s process

So everyone is now focused on the state by state growth rate.

But two things:

1) There is no true growth rate yet. We aren’t sure how fast this is actually spreading because we are currently in a phase of expanded testing. That expanded testing alone will cause an exponential increase in cases. So while there is spread, we aren’t seeing that spread in terms of data because increased testing is its own variable.

2) Each state has its own testing criteria. Some are only testing and confirming high risk cases while others are more lenient and testing those with any symptoms. Because of this lack of uniformity, each state will show differing rates even though the actual growth could be the same or vastly different.

All this to say, stop freaking out when the numbers increase. And stop the apples to oranges comparisons with cases. That goes for country to country too. Because we are missing so many cases (this is a fact), it’s not something to latch onto. Instead, focus on hospitalizations and deaths until (although it may never happen), we test more and more and we have a better grasp on the actual case totals.