The COVID-19 pandemic

[danbrotherston]

This is one of those situations where any statistic you report has to be understood in context. Using the early policy of reporting only confirmed cases would bias results down comparatively from earlier when the testing lab wasn't as far behind. Of tests that have tested positive once and are presumptive positive cases, how many then tested negative after a second test?

This is the question. The first test is less accurate and results in some false positives -- but how many?

The issue I have with the change is that it invalidates the previous data.

It means the context of previous data is lost, the previous data is still valid, just in a different context...

The biggest problem is this change in context was not explained, and as a result, you get newspaper headlines like the ones I posted, which has the potential to increase panic.