# Yet another COVID-19 question **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345 "2020-03-12T16:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/21 "2020-03-13T14:12:22Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Why would it? Its a cold virus not flu…correct? Apparently so. I thought some flus were caused by coronaviruses, but I guess not. Strange that this is most often compared to the Flu rather than a cold, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/22 "2020-03-13T14:23:21Z")
Most colds are caused by a virus that isn’t related to either corona or flu. Some colds are caused by a virus that is related to the current scary one. Coronavirus and influenza are not related, but have very similar symptoms. And I’m not aware of any reason to believe that there are 100,000 cases in Ohio. Governor DeWine thinks there are, but he’s not an epidemiologist, and I don’t think he got that number from any epidemiologist, either. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/23 "2020-03-13T14:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > “We know now, just the fact of community spread says that at least 1%, at the very least 1% of our population is carrying this virus in Ohio today,” said Dr. Amy Acton, Director of ODH. “We have 11.7 million people.” > > According to the Governor Mike DeWine’s Office and the ODH, cases are expected to double every six days. > > “Whenever you know of 2 people that have it due to community spread, then you can assume that 1% of your population has it,” said ODH Press Secretary Melanie Amato, citing a 2017 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC. [source](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/continuing-coverage/coronavirus/ohio-department-of-health-says-100-000-ohioans-are-carrying-coronavirus) Not an epidemiologist, can’t confirm the validity of their statements, but that is how the numbers are being calculated. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/24 "2020-03-13T15:35:51Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > [source](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/continuing-coverage/coronavirus/ohio-department-of-health-says-100-000-ohioans-are-carrying-coronavirus) > > Not an epidemiologist, can’t confirm the validity of their statements, but that is how the numbers are being calculated. I can’t confirm the validity of the statements either- but I do want to point out that there’s a difference between 100,000 **infected** people , 100,000 \*\* sick \*\* people and 100,000 people who tested positive. Not all the infected people will have noticeable symptoms, even those who have noticeable symptoms may not connect them to corona virus ( for example, if I have a runny nose, cough and sore throat, but no fever, I might think it’s just a cold when it’s actually COVID 19) and not everyone with symptoms is getting tested. As far as I can tell , the reported cases are the number who have tested positive - there are certainly many more carrying the virus. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/25 "2020-03-13T16:51:20Z")
Certainly, there are more infected than confirmed cases. But by a factor of 20,000? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345/26 "2020-03-13T23:25:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Quite a few people I know had flu symptoms, some very severe, but had negative test results for influenza. By far the most likely is that they DID have influenza of some strain, but the test did not detect it. The common test is the Rapid Antigen test. (If the results were known within 15-30 minutes, you had the rapid test.) This test is designed to detect the most common strains of influenza A (mainly H1N1 & H3N2) and Influenza B. Doesn’t detect Influenza C at all. And there are dozens of other, less common strains of Influenza that aren’t detected by this test. Also this test is not the most accurate – about 1/3 of influenza cases don’t show as positive. But this is mostly accurate, and gives the answer right away – that’s important. There are other, more complicated & expensive tests that can detect other strains. But most doctors don’t order them. Why bother? The treatment doctors order is the same (rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, take pain relievers if needed for headache & muscle pains), and it’s more important to start that treatment immediately than to wait days for test results. Most doctors recognize flu by the symptoms, and just start treating it, without ordering any tests at all. So the most likely case for this is that these few people either had an influenza strain other than the common ones detected by the test, or that they happened to be one of the cases where the test was inaccurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yet-another-covid-19-question/849345.md?page=1)