The cumulative total of Covid cases in Orkney is now at 1,842 as 10 new positive PCR tests were recorded in the Health Board area.
The combined stats as published on PHS are as follows:
- PCR only: 15
- Combined LFD and positive PCR: 1
- LFD only: 24
- Total: 40
From 23rd to 29th of January 2022 there were 65 positive PCR cases recorded in Orkney – positivity rate 14.4%
The stats for Scotland published on 1st February 2022 are as follows:
- 7,565 new cases of COVID-19 reported.
- 30 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive
- 29 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 1,177 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19
- 4,416,119 people have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, 4,129,347 have received their second dose, and 3,299,180 have received a third dose or booster
This graph shows the age distribution of positive test results (combined) for 1st February 2022 in Scotland.
- get the vaccine or the vaccine booster
- take regular lateral flow tests – especially before mixing with other people or visiting a hospital or care home – get lateral flow tests
- follow the guidance on self-isolating and booking a test
- wear a face covering where required
- if mixing with others, try to gather in small groups only
- wash your hands regularly and cover your nose and mouth if coughing or sneezing
- open windows when meeting indoors
- a mixture of home and office working is allowed
- use the apps: COVID status, Protect Scotland and Check-in Scotland
Categories: Uncategorized
The meaning of the number of reported positive cases in Orkney yesterday has become absurd.
Orkney Health Board PCR ……10
H Scotland PCR…….15, PCR&LFD…..1, LFD …..24 = total 40 (not 30 as stated)
Fiona – I am not getting at you – but how can we trust these numbers.
I presume it is because NHS Orkney do not directly get informed of +ve LFD tests (surely they should). Lots of people are now using LFD tests, and even if they are +ve will not report the fact online, unless they phone and get a PCR test. So even the PHS LFD +ve cases recorded will be an underestimate. This almost certainly applies across the UK.
Can some one in authority sort these discrepancies’ out – or at least explain them – otherwise they are not worth publishing or reading.
I find it a bit misleading if the headline corresponds only with the government figures which (in their excel sheet with the usual 1 day delay) ignore LFT positives, although these cleary dominate by now. In times when many people just read headlines on flimsy phones and small screens and rarely pay attention to complete articles, it changes perceptions.
The headline should therefore provide the total number of positive cases (PCR and LFT combined) as reported by PHS.
It is bad enough then the government and PHS calculate positivity rates still on the basis of LFT only which skews the results… but we can definitely do better than the government.
but we (if you mean NHS Orkney) seem to be reporting far fewer cases than the government – by which presumably you mean PHS – you’re not clarifying very much for me – so the headline (not Fiona’s) should have been 40 not 10?
With ‘we’ I meant all of us outside the government.
I didn’t try to clarify, I only pointed out that – in all the confusion with the different stats – in my opinion, The Orkney News, which is thankfully continuing to report on these figures and I commend Fiona for all the hard work and effort, should ideally switch for the headlines to the daily numbers published by PHS using the positive cases identified by both types of tests and better not refer to the excel sheet from the government (which is a. a day behind and b. only reports PCR).
Since I am sifting through all the data sources (and many more) myself every day for a research project and a contribution towards the future public inquiry, I know how time consuming this all is. Fiona certainly gets my thumbs up (as I am sure she knows) and the suggestion to move towards the PHS data for reporting was meant as a suggestion to alleviate the confusion we all experienced over the last days.
And yes, Peter, I think today’s total number of positive cases (PHS data) stands at 40, yesterday’s at 30 and so on. And even this will only be the tip of the iceberg…
It is very much appreciated that The Orkney News is still reporting all this whilst other news outlets engange in wishful thinking and have long stopped to report. None of us wants this news item to be neglected, as Bernie correctly stated.
And this is why consideration should be given to adapt headlines to contents which has been changed (different testing regime & its consequences) by the statistics providing bodies.
Im absolutely certain that Fiona has seen my comments as a suggestion, or perhaps constructive criticism (with the emphasis on constructive).
To Bernie’s stats comments 😉
Bad enough that there is ample confusion at the UK case numbers (not reported here)… England and NI using 90 day threshold for re-infection case counts, Wales 42 days and Scotland so far doesn’t count re-infections at all as cases… well, anyway, at least they have started to take note at all… but this would show that there is probably some truth in what Bernie said underneath… perhaps not necessarily deliberate lies (you see I have not yet completely lost all trust) but stats can suffer from many bad things (false data, incompetence, trying to support an argument…) and can be abused too. This is sad because (correctly compiled!) statistics can also be a very useful tool.
Largely agree with all that – I will take a step back.
As far as I’m aware, TON is the only media source which publishes figures at all. I may be mistaken, as I don’t scour the Media – it’s just too dis-spiriting.
It’s something that concerns me – though TON has a large and wide readership now – if it’s the only place where folk can see any stats, apart from tracking them down themselves – which – mostly, they won’t be prepared to do – then – if Fiona stops doing the daily update – there won’t be anything at all – which will make it easier for people to ignore that Covid is still there – very much still there.
Whatever the shortcomings of these stats – they are not meant, by Fiona, to mislead, and they do at least let folk know the general picture.
I use them to send to people who are not in touch with what’s happening here, and would be sorry to see this item go from TON.
As an aside – I did one term of studying Statistics at school, where I learnt the truth of the saying ‘There are three kinds of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics.’
I learnt to distrust them and how they can be used, and gave up the course. It was a last ditch attempt by my teachers so help me to get a Maths qualification – Maths is not my thing. I admire the concepts, can’t work with the equations, but do, mostly, trust the outcome.
Stats are even more not my thing – but, in this case, I do believe that Fiona’s daily update is better than nothing – much better than nothing.
That’s my view, and it’s not an insult to Fiona, it’s an insult/accusation to whoever compiles and sends out the stats.
And, as I’ve said before – what matters to me is that there are still numbers of cases to report, and how we are going to make them less, and less, and less – whoever is compiling or releasing the stats about them.