By John Estridge
Warning: This is not straight journalism but a monologue about the numbers from the ISDH and today.
Update: Fayette County Health Department contacted me Wednesday evening, September 30. A spokesperson said they were unaware of the situation with the numbers. Thus, it must be an ISDH situation. There has not been any contact with ISDH.
Here’s a mystery.
I usually check the COVID-19-related numbers from the Indiana State Department of Health between 11 a.m. and noon. And I did that today, Wednesday, September 30. I write down the state numbers and then go to the map of Indiana and put my cursor on Franklin County, write down the pertinent numbers – new positive test results and the total new COVID-19-related deaths and that total — for that county. I then go to Union County and do the same thing, re-engaging the reset button between the two and finally Fayette County.
Today, the results coming back were different; it was an anomaly.
When I got to Fayette County, the number of new positive test results was zero for Fayette County and the total of positive test results since this mess began was 502. Yesterday, Tuesday, September 29, the total for positive test results in Fayette County was 423. That means, with zero positive test results counted on Wednesday, the number increased by 79.
I double-checked myself because I make mistakes like we all do, but I was on Fayette County and that was the number being reported.
Thus, I sent an email to ISDH and asked why. I then sent a message to the Fayette County Health Department Facebook page with the same question.
I then went outside, since this may be the last warm day of 2020, to read. After some enjoyable time, my cell phone battery was dying, and I was expecting some calls, so I went inside to charge up the phone. I then checked the ISDH website again and lo and behold the total number of positive test results for Fayette County was back to 423.
Double checking myself once again — because I am old – I could not find any counties around Fayette County that had anywhere near those numbers. And I did not have an answer from ISDH or FCHD.
My Long Suffering Wife Ruth asked me “So how do we know what is true and what is not true?”
Precisely.
After all that and for what it is worth:
None of the three counties reported any more positive test results and/or deaths. With zeroes for the daily numbers, it makes the counties’ totals (maybe) Franklin County, 315 and 25; Fayette County, 423 and 14; and Union County, 79 and zero.
For the state, the numbers today are (maybe) 965 new positive test results making that total 120,019 and 20 new COVID-19-related deaths (maybe) with that total now 3,405.
Back to the numbers, I would imagine the total figures are computer generated, so why there was such a mistake is well beyond my limited knowledge. These are rather important figures for such a mistake to occur without any feedback on why.
Just sayin’.