The government could have made reporting (anonymously except for geographic location) part of its test reimbursement program.
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Majority of people I know found out they were positive only through home tests. I’m guessing that the positive cases are tremendously under-reported. I did take a PCR test as well at CVS, and when they reported my result, they said in the email that they were going to report my result to the county. But that’s one out a good 7-8 people I know who have tested positive for Covid recently.
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yeah, except as high schoolers learn in AP Stats, self-reported anecdotes are not data. And common sense would indicate that those who test negative at home have little incentive to take the time to log in and report.
“I’m guessing that the positive cases are tremendously under-reported.” Exactly.
btw: Negative home tests are not reported at all!
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There’s no reason to collect negative test results. The government’s program could have been designed to incentivize anonymous reporting of positive results.
There absolutely is a reason to collect negative tests*. (Ask any epidemiologist.)
“The government’s program could have been designed to incentivize anonymous reporting of positive results.”
Not really; just not practical. (Not to mention, how do you stop the bots?)
*edited to add: community positivity rate was a key factor in lockdowns/masking requirements, so yeah, the Denominator matters.
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But then how practical and accepted would it be for the government to require frequent testing for all people with results reported and tracked by a government agency?
Not practical nor accepted at all (which is my point and something I’ve posted on cc since the start of the pandemic).
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It turns out that Pfizer and Moderna don’t have to do human clinical trials of the new bivalent (ancestral strain plus BA.4 and BA.5) boosters.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is using a controversial strategy to evaluate the next generation of COVID-19 boosters.
The approach is stirring debate as the agency works to make new, hopefully improved, boosters available in September to help prevent severe disease and save lives in the fall and winter.
For the first time, the FDA is planning to base its decision about whether to authorize new boosters on studies involving mice instead of humans.
Full article here
So, this is how the products may be on the market soon. Andy Slavitt is reporting that Pfizer’s may be ready in early Sept, Moderna’s in early Oct.
Is this the same booster the UK is already using?
No, the UK booster is ancestral strain plus original omicron variant BA.1, from the NPR article linked above:
The United Kingdom just approved a new booster that targets both the original strain of the virus and the original omicron variant, called BA.1 — a so-called bivalent vaccine.
But the FDA rejected BA.1 bivalent boosters last spring. Instead, the FDA told the vaccine companies that make the mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech, to develop bivalent vaccines that target the dominant omicron subvariants — BA.4 and BA.5 — in the hopes they will offer stronger, longer-lasting protection.
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My dad tested positive for Covid last Sunday and finished Paxlovid today. He is doing pretty well. My mom just tested positive today and has called the doctor for Paxlovid. Hopefully she won’t have too hard of a time with it. I am thankful that both of them are fully vaccinated and boosted. i’m also glad they have Covid now versus 2 years ago.
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Still wheezing and on my xxth round of prednisone, plus the nebulizer and inhaler. As I posted before, my PCP and her nurse practitioner both attributed these continued episodes of bronchitis (pneumonia too) to my relatively mild case of Covid two months ago.
I am so sorry. You sound like my coworker who’s still wheezing and coughing over a month later. She’s made an appointment with a pulmonologist, but they can’t see her until mid September.
And she’s almost exactly my age (49+) with a similar allergy history and same number of vax/booster.
Several of h’s teachers/staff have it along with who knows how many kids. Ugh.
We just got back from the UK… we were at a week long conference. Where we were staying there was almost no news or discussion about covid. Rarely did we see a mask; and did not see any signage on any businesses. Several people at the conference ended up getting covid, so the organizers made sure that they were taken care of… meals etc. However, at the end of the conference the organizers announced that, in the UK, hotels and housing are not obligated to keep covid positive individuals on sight or extend their room stay. And they encouraged the covid positive people, as long as they were well enough to leave, to go ahead and make arrangements to fly home.
I am sorry your case of covid continues to affect you.
I know you tried to stay safe, too. Unfortunately, society has decided that since only 1-in-however-many have continuing covid issues, that that is just too bad for them. 
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BIL, who is the most covid-adverse person I know (always wears a N-95 mask AND stays 10 feet away from everyone) ended up getting covid. I really have no idea how, as I doubt he let his guard down. Yet it happened. Vaxed X2 and at at least one booster.
He has pre-existing severe cardiac issues and ended up in the hospital with a blood clot in his left ventricle. He was on IV heparin for a few days and then sent home. Not sure how he’s doing now – he’s not the best communicator. Could have happened anyway unrelated to covid, but he did test positive on a PCR. Negative on a half dozen antigens, which makes it look like it may be an older undetected case.
In our area, it’s almost as if Covid has decided that those of us who haven’t had Covid MUST get it … right now. D & GD just got it, and based on the best D can determine, it had to have been from a trip to the outdoors community pool. Our neighbors on both sides got it recently. D’s friend who never got it the three times his wife had it just tested positive. Story after story around here about folks getting it for the first time … and most were still taking precautions. H & I figure we’ll be positive tomorrow or the next day, since GD spent the day with us & got sick later in the day. It’s out to get all of us, I swear.
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Those who share COVID anecdotes, could I politely request that your anecdote include WHEN the person came down with COVID? Many, many were hospitalized in the earlier iteration of the virus, and less so now. For example, my unvaccinated BIL was hospitalized last Christmas for a week and it was touch and go for a while. My wife’s case (double vaxxed and double boostered) two months ago was asymptomatic. Very, very different circumstances and results. Alpha, delta, and omicron variants operated in very different fashions.
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My Covid was definitely Omicron–May 2022. My current bronchitis, previous pneumonia–not so sure.
Both cases would have been some form of Omicron variant. The big difference is BIL was unvaccinated vs. W was vaxed and double boosted.
The vaccines continue to protect against infection (more unvaccinated get infected compared to vaccinated even tho there are many cases in vaccinated peeps) and vaccination continues to protect against severe cases and death. Any level of vaccination is good, one booster better than none, two boosters better than one. These vaccines are one of the greatest science/medical research achievements ever. Recent CDC data here:
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