A problem in Australia seems to be testing is being applied in a political manner, not uniformly.
In Victoria they are testing hotspots, and they report positives from a single real or false positive as an case, that will make the numbers looks artificially bad, and the rate is roughly at or below the false positive rate so it's hard to separate real versus potential cases. The true picture only surfaces after two or three consecutive tests.
In other regions they are testing in a much more egalitarian fashion, silly stuff like testing clusters 800km from the capital, or testing 100% of the well-to-do areas and ignoring the ghettos. For example, I read NSW was doing concentrated testing on one side of the Murray, while Victoria is doing zero testing straight across the river, consolidated from both sides have zero real cases.
Some regions require two positives tests before a COVID-19 case is reported as confirmed, other regions report cases based on one positive, there is no uniform approach!
In Victoria they are testing hotspots, and they report positives from a single real or false positive as an case, that will make the numbers looks artificially bad, and the rate is roughly at or below the false positive rate so it's hard to separate real versus potential cases. The true picture only surfaces after two or three consecutive tests.
In other regions they are testing in a much more egalitarian fashion, silly stuff like testing clusters 800km from the capital, or testing 100% of the well-to-do areas and ignoring the ghettos. For example, I read NSW was doing concentrated testing on one side of the Murray, while Victoria is doing zero testing straight across the river, consolidated from both sides have zero real cases.
Some regions require two positives tests before a COVID-19 case is reported as confirmed, other regions report cases based on one positive, there is no uniform approach!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"