If that news article was right and there is a giant data error/conspiracy tell me this:
-Why are ICUs and hospitals filling up in Florida? I’m going to be very general here but, traditionally medical admissions generally peak in the winter and dip in the summer because flu/pneumonia’s are far more common in the winter; surgical admissions peak in the summer because people drive and party more in the summer (increasing trauma.) This summer, the trauma business is thankfully way down because most people are still staying home. There is no explanation other then a widespread epidemic to explain why hospitals are filling up. They weren’t a month ago and now they are suggesting Covid rates in Florida are sky rocketing.
-Does this data error extend to other states? The entire Sun Belt is experiencing a similar surge as Florida, there is no reason Florida should be an outlier compared to those other states. I’ll also point out that hospitals in those states are also filling up.
-If Florida and the sunbelt were experiencing similar %positive rates as states in the Midwest and Northeast, assuming that each state had a similar hospital bed to population ratio there should be stories about those hospitals being full up here too, which there isn’t.
My state (Wisconsin) an entirely average Midwest state in most ways (and one that is mostly open) is currently operating hospitals at 79% capacity and only has 254 people hospitalized with Covid (69 ICU) and 164 people admitted with pending tests. We aren’t stressed, our new case levels had been climbing, until yesterday when the 7 day average decreased for the first time in 2 weeks.
Keep digging your head in the sand thinking Florida doesn’t have a Covid problem. %positive is not the only thing increasing in Florida every other metric imaginable is too (raw new case numbers, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths.)
One other thing, if you get a Covid test in my area do you know how long it takes to get a result back? Average wait is less then 2 days, that’s why our total amount of people tested is always much lower on Sunday-Monday (tests done Saturday-Sunday.) If you Floridians are waiting 5-7 days at this point that is criminal.