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Re: numbers

Posted by George Duncan-2 on Nov 02, 2020; 4:23pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/numbers-tp7599310p7599315.html

Agreed, Tom. Also, what does "increase" mean?

George Duncan
Emeritus Professor of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
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My art theme: Dynamic exposition of the tension between matrix order and luminous chaos.

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On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 9:11 AM Tom Johnson <[hidden email]> wrote:
Both numbers may be accurate but not particularly helpful bcs they lack context. One would have to start with, at least, a ratio of cases to some level of population, per 10,000 or 100,000,etc. 

It drives me nuts that the state's health department or somebody publishes daily cases by ZIP without showing the population of those ZIPs. And then newspapers like the New Mexican publish the case numbers without context. 
T. 

On Mon, Nov 2, 2020, 9:01 AM Prof David West <[hidden email]> wrote:
Which is scarier?

  -- 41 out of 50 states show an increase in COVID cases.
  -- 105 out of 3,141 counties show an increase in COVID cases.

Which is more accurate?

Which number should guide policy?

davew

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