2/3 of recent UK "covid hospitalizations" are not for covid

it's long past time we re-thought the manner in which we count covid

at what point will the world wake up to the fact that we are currently inhabiting far more of a testdemic than a pandemic?

data from the UK is showing that only 1 in 3 recent “covid hospitalizations” is actually in the hospital for covid. the vast majority were there for something else and tested positive after admission. this is literally tripling the reported count of new patients.

“Two-thirds of new Covid hospital patients in England were actually admitted for a different ailment, MailOnline's analysis of NHS data suggests - as a growing number of studies show Omicron is much milder than Delta.

In the two weeks to December 21, hospitals in England recorded 563 new coronavirus inpatients — the majority of which are believed to be Omicron now that the variant is the country's dominant stain.

But just 197 (35 per cent) were being primarily treated for Covid, with the remaining 366 (65 per cent) only testing positive after being admitted for something else.

Experts told MailOnline it was important to distinguish between admissions primarily for Covid so that rising numbers do not spook ministers into more social restrictions or scare the public from going to hospital.

The rising number of so-called 'incidental cases' - people who are only diagnosed with the virus after going to the NHS for a different ailment - is in line with the picture in South Africa.

Studies in the epicentre Gauteng province have shown up to three-quarters of Omicron patients there were not admitted primarily for the virus.”

how, at this stage of affairs and after 2 years of time to learn to get the stats straight is everyone still getting this all so wrong? it outright beggars belief.

how is anyone supposed to make decisions or analyze data when the quality is this low?

if you relentlessly test everyone in sight, symptomatic or no, for covid using overclocked PCR tests at 40+ Ct you’re going to find it everywhere. these tests were never actually suited for purpose and have been locking onto trace virus, dead virus, and all manner of other non-clinical positives.

this is not a sound basis for analysis or behavior.

this has been widely known for ages. and yet it persists unabated.

it has spilled over into every other statistic.

hospitalization has been massively tainted by it as nosocomial spread is rife at the trace level. this issue gets amplified by the payout for finding such “cases” as it allows for more billing on new codes and access to additional insurance and coverage pools. this has turned the hyper-aggressive hunt for cases in hospitals into a huge profit center.

deaths are the same. death with (or within 30 days of) discernable trace virus detection by super sensitive assay is an outlandishly inclusive definition that vastly exceeds actual “death from covid” as a primary or even significant cause.

nothing else is counted this way. ever.

not in all of human history has anything remotely like this taken place.

we’re running more covid tests in a week in the US that we’ve run flu tests in entire decades and more in a season than we’ve run flu tests in the history of the nation.

is it any wonder that with such inclusive definitions, over-amplified detection modalities, and obsessive and malincentivized testing regimes that this all looks so “unprecedented”?

of course it does. we’ve never looked for anything in all of human history the way we’re looking for covid. what other result could one even plausibly expect?

we’ve tested our way into a pit of inescapable dodgy data quicksand.

continuing to treat this “data” as though it is clinically or societally meaningful has become a far greater problem than the disease itself.

the cure, of course, is simple:

stop this OCD level testing strategy.

• stop testing the asymptomatic altogether

• dial down the amplification on PCR to 30Ct at a max and probably something more like 26

• stop obsessively testing healthy children

• stop encouraging people to test themselves over and over and to demand the same from their friends and family

sending out rapid tests to everyone is not good public health policy. it’s epidemiological derangement.

it’s cosplay medicine that perpetuates panic through performative ritual and obeisance. it serves no useful end save digging this hole deeper.

it will not end, assuage, or mitigate spread or the pandemic. it will only lead to more misguided perception and response.

this is not normal. it’s not science. it’s not even sane.

in another big win for irony (who, let’s face it has been having a banner year) the relentless fear and overtesting is actually becoming a problem for hospitals.

the testdemic has become the problem and is combining with a profound lack of perspective to generate astonishing harm.

“a virus so dangerous that you need to test for it to tell it apart from the common cold” is a laughable pretext for hijacking half the planet.

it’s clear these folks cannot hear themselves anymore.

public health has turned into some sort of golem that cannot be turned off and will mindlessly keep digging a trench until the heat death of the universe unless someone steps in and disables it.

so stop it. stop getting tested.

when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes and this is a very, very stupid game we’re all taking part in…