As government funding lapses and COVID-19 testing becomes less streamlined across the United States, we may be seeing a blind spot in COVID-19 data.
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Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told KCBS Radio's "Ask An Expert" COVID-19 testing data has declined as the severity of the illness has diminished.
"Omicron and its BA.2 variant can produce such mild symptoms that so many people don't even go forward for testing," he said. "So trying to beef up the recording of tests I think is a vain hope. Let's focus on the major issue."
Leaving testing behind, the most important data to represent COVID-19 is hospitalization, Schaffner said. "That's where the really sick people are, that's where the costs are, that’s where the stress on the healthcare system is," he explained.
COVID-19 hospitalization numbers and death rate are solid metrics while country-wide case rates are "much softer." "We really don't care about how many colds we got this past winter, what we care about is people who are really sick," Schaffner described.
To supplement testing, Schaffner added taking samples of wastewater can give health experts a good idea of how many people are suffering from a COVID-19 infection, especially in isolated densely populated areas such as college dormitories or assisted living facilities.
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