🤨🤌

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

🚨BREAKING 🦠
On Friday, the US CDC arbitrarily shifted higher COVlD levels into lower categories depicted with cooler colors.

Much of what was Very High is now "High." What was High is now "Moderate" or "Low." Low is "Very Low."

🔹2 states/territories artificially shifted from High to Moderate (MS, GU)
🔹5 shifted from Moderate to Low (CA, TX, AK, WA, NV)
🔹4 shifted from Low to Very Low (AZ, AR, LA, NC)

During intense surges, states will rarely get classified as Very High anymore. Presently, transmission is rising across the US, with a 75% chance of a wave, but states will be depicted in blue (Very Low) much longer, making communities less prepared. #Bluewashing

Normally, when the CDC makes a methodology change, they flag it prominently on each of their COVlD monitoring pages. This time, there was no alert and no explanation. Major changes were confined to COVlD, not Influenza A, and not RSV. The questionable change was made in the middle of rising transmission across most of the country; 15 states already have COVlD outbreaks, and others may soon join the ranks. These are serious ethics concerns that warrant investigative journalism.

These issues are aggravated by delayed reporting at High/Very High monitoring sites. Sites with 1-week reporting delays get excluded when the CDC calculates current levels. For example, only 16% of the sites online in Texas (3 of 19) report High/Very High levels, but 90% of those with a 1-week reporting delay (18 of 20) have High/Very High levels, leading the state to get classified as "Low" when really High. These issues snowball and can easily push a state down 1-2 categories when experiencing significant COVlD outbreaks.

The good news is that the individual wastewater monitoring site data are still valid. The bad news is that the CDC maps and level descriptions will now mislead the casual user. Think: "Good data, bad use of data." At PMC, we told you that if there was any funny business at the CDC, we would warn you right away. We diagnosed the issue immediately and will still report accurate COVlD information.

Expect further national news coverage this week. Journalists are welcome to reach out.

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

when my fave white folks from the pnw move to nyc they immediately stop being my fave white folks from the pnw and THAT HURTS

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

i interacted with someone having prior knowledge that they suck but then they were mean to me and im still sad i hate when people are mean to me 👎

[Nerdeen Kiswani @NerdeenKiswani]

Maybe if murdering Brown people had been a disqualifier, we wouldn’t be here to begin with. Another day, another reminder that much of the American left only seems to treat rape and murder as disqualifying when the victims are Americans & not overseas.

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

posting in twitter feels millenial

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

i love seeing antonelli win and viva italia but THAT BEING SAID. something about hearing the italian national anthem followed by the german one just doesn’t sit right 🥱

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

nyc horror story the famous person i see in public most frequently is casey neistat

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

they told me to take my iron supplements on an empty stomach now my burps taste like pennies

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

drugs don’t hit the same when you have a frontal lobe. still fun tho

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

i never do drugs anymore but after an early morning crash out i’ve decided to just do them all and see want happens will report back

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

what’s the point of dying if you don’t do it in new york like this is THE place to expire

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

in another life i was working on a ship made of wood

[Travis Chapman @Travispaints]

Pickle ball. My acrylic painting.

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

if i experienced immaculate conception i would NOT bring that shit up to ANYBODYYY rn,,, literally no one would be normal about it for a single second i would for sure let my messiah baby grow up a few years until they can @ least talk and verbally deter war crimes

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

veruca salt is such a beautiful name honestly

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

dreamt that i was a mortician and i was embalming a body and when i put in the tube to pump in the embalming fluid the body grew into a blueberry like in willy wonka

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

if food was a cigarette …..

[night jar @nocturnalbottle]

so its april and zohran still hasnt disbanded the SRG

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

coming out to my parents for the 17th time. they just keep forgetting

[🤨🤌 @achingbackwood]

abolish germany