COVID-19 – Numbers

Last week we posted some of the numbers reflecting the number of COVID-19 cases that are being diagnosed in the United States and around the world.  This week we decided to look at several sources to make sure we are giving you the most accurate information possible.

We were shocked and a little defeated by what we found.  We can’t tell you how many different numbers we were seeing. Sometimes it was a small margin of error and sometimes it was a large margin of error. Questions surrounding what “the real numbers are” seem to be all over the place and something everyone wants to know.

We see a trend in opinions and views that seem polarizing but we want to remain true to our roots and think about this in an Uncommon way. So we are presenting the facts and letting you dive in!

The following pictures were all taken on the same day for comparison’s sake.

This is what Google reports. Google has even more deaths than the CDC (listed below) and the CDC is including the probable cause of death in their statistics. Google also reports more cases in the United States than the CDC by close to 700,000.

Here is the CDC update. They disclosed that they count COVID deaths as well as the probable cause of deaths. They have also made the following statement,  “The CDC does not know the exact number of COVID-19 illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths for a variety of reasons. COVID-19 can cause mild illness, symptoms might not appear immediately, there are delays in reporting and testing, not everyone who is infected gets tested or seeks medical care, and there may be differences in how states and territories confirm numbers in their jurisdictions.”

Facebook has its own COVID landing page. Facebook is not reporting deaths on its information but they are reporting more cases than the CDC.

NBC News is showing a similar number of cases as Facebook but again, more deaths than the CDC.

The lack of consistency seems staggering. We would think that the CDC would have the most accurate numbers but yet, they state there is a lot of inconsistency in their own reporting.  As you know, we have our own thoughts and opinions, but those aside, we would love to hear from you on how you are trying to stay up to date with all this, and if you are, how do you make sense of the variance from each source?  The inconsistency is troubling to us, but regardless of the numbers, we are all in the same boat.