COVID-19 Update – April 23rd, 2020 (Thursday evening)
It has been a tough day in our fight against COVID-19. Today eight additional people tested positive for COVID-19 while no one was cleared out of isolation. Sadly 3 individuals passed away due to this illness bringing the total deaths to 12. All deceased were between the ages of 74 to over 100. As of today, our total cases and individuals who are cured stand at 126 and 54, respectively.
The senior facilities are hit especially hard by the virus. A facility in West Windsor decided to test all residents. Eight of those residents tested positive today. Although the numbers are large this outcome can be explained. As the individuals are confined to a facility, the danger of spread is also confined to that facility. In fact, many cases reported over the past week are from senior facilities in West Windsor. Yesterday someone asked why West Windsor was still getting a few new cases every day. This is one explanation for majority of those cases.
I want to take this opportunity to explain how the data is reported since people are using it to draw day-to-day conclusions.
The number of daily positive cases show the individuals for whom the test results became available that day. It does not indicate people that got infected that day. After symptoms appear, the person may choose to wait for a few days before getting tested. Then depending on the lab processing the sample it can take between 2 and 5 days to get the result back. Thus, a person testing positive today could have been infected any time during the past 2 to 3 weeks.
Therefore, it's important to look at the trend rather than day to day cases. That is why I have cautioned people that we will see this trickle of cases for potentially next 2-3 weeks. The important thing is to make sure it doesn't grow exponentially and we keep new infections to a minimum.
On this tough day, I want to thank Svetlana Boyko for providing a perfect picture to thank the people who are our heroes. Please send your good thoughts and prayers to people in these facilities and others affected by the virus.
Please stay safe.
