COVID surge not tied to increased testing

As Michigan broke its record for the most new COVID-19 cases in a single day, President Donald Trump hit “send” on a tweet claiming the spike was caused by an increase in testing.

“The Cases are up because TESTING is way up, by far the most, and best, in the world,” read the tweet. But the data tells a different story.

Increases in COVID-19 testing doesn’t account for the increases in COVID-19 cases in Michigan, said Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), according to an article on MLive.

“We are experiencing dramatic increases in all regions of the state with more cases among younger Michiganders than we saw in the spring. Outbreaks are occurring in workplaces, schools and universities and due to social gatherings,” she said.

MDHHS data shows several things that indicate the state of the coronavirus in Michigan is due to more than just testing.

• Daily test numbers are up 30% between September and October, but case counts climbed 87% over the same time period.
• The state’s positivity rate has increased from 3.2% in September to 4.4% in October.
• Hospitalizations are up. On Tuesday, hospitals had 1,548 adult coronavirus patients compared to 503 a month earlier.
• The number of deaths from the virus is increasing. There have been 477 deaths so far in October compared to 289 in September.

You can read the full story here.