Infections have leveled off in the last week after the Thanksgiving Holiday spikes…..
Christmas is tomorrow….
While travel has be curtailed….
Some people will go out to eat and others will celebrate ….
And next week is New Years and we KNOW there will be mass celebrations around the country….
The people doing the data will be off on at least the two holidays..
So there are gonna be spikes showing up after New Years when the normal reporting gets back….
After weeks of record case and death numbers, the United States is poised to see a steep drop in newly reported Covid-19 infections as the upcoming holidays introduce gaps in data.
Health departments in at least 15 states have said they will not publish statewide data on Christmas. Several, including Wyoming, Rhode Island and North Carolina, also plan to take off Christmas Eve. More states and counties are likely to join them.
Across the country, some testing sites will close or limit their hours, meaning fewer coronavirus cases may be identified even on days when data is reported. Winter weather has also forced some sites to close.
Heading into Christmas, there were signs that case numbers were finally leveling off after months of growth. But the picture was mixed: Progress in the Midwest and Mountain West was being offset by growth in California, Texas, Florida and the South.
It might be weeks before the country’s trendline becomes clear. The seven-day average for new cases, perhaps the best indicator of the national outlook, will be distorted by holiday reporting patterns until at least Jan. 8.
This will not be the first time a holiday has skewed the country’s data. Heading into Thanksgiving, the United States was averaging about 176,000 cases a day. But only 103,104 new infections were reported on the holiday, the lowest number in weeks. There was a slight rebound on the day after Thanksgiving, but not enough to offset a still-noticeable holiday dip in the national case curve.
This month, the data is likely to become even blurrier. While Thanksgiving was a one-day phenomenon, Christmas is followed by another holiday week….