Iowa State announces reversal of plans to have fans in the stands for season opener

[bawbie]

I'm not, your side is the one lying. If I was not so dang busy I'd dig into the data and prove it. They said exactly what happened. They included months worth of antigen positive test's into just a few days.

That is not the source of the positivity rate or the spike in the state. The antigen numbers did affect one day if you look only at the new numbers, but they were counting those as negative tests all along, so it only fixed the data, it didn't change the positivity rates on any given day (per the IDPH website)

 

[mynameisjonas]

Good news!

 

[jcisuclones]

Positivity rate is the percentage of total tests that are returned as a positive for the virus over a specific duration of time (one day, for example)

Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page..

 

[3TrueFans]

I'm not, your side is the one lying. If I was not so dang busy I'd dig into the data and prove it. They said exactly what happened. They included months worth of antigen positive test's into just a few days.

And they shouldn't be including results from antigen tests for some reason?

https://idph.iowa.gov/News/ArtMID/6...increased-testing-volume-and-new-CDC-guidance

Antigen testing accounts for just 1.8% of all COVID-19 tests in Iowa at this time

The inclusion of antigen tests results in minimal change to the state’s positivity rate.

 

[heitclone]

With schools opening in person across the state (and a statewide positivity rate around 15%) and no further shutdown of in-person dining or a mask mandate, it is very unlikely that the rates will fall in the near term.

I think the new CMS regulations for LTC will be interesting, every facility will be testing all staff regularly, I will be tested 2x a week starting this week, due to our county being around 11%. We are a small company but the 90-100 tests we will be throwing in to the numbers each week could increase/decrease rates in our small population county, take in to account the other LTC facilities in the area and it's going to swing things one way or another pretty quickly. Obviously it will have less impact on the metro areas but these tests will make up the majority of people tested in most counties in the state, especially those looking at 10% or more rates right now.

 

[larrysarmy]

Positivity rate is the percentage of total tests that are returned as a positive for the virus over a specific duration of time (one day, for example)

A positive test can also detect remnants of the virus (but no longer contagious), in some cases, up to 12 weeks after infection.

 

[HFCS]

And they shouldn't be including results from antigen tests for some reason?

https://idph.iowa.gov/News/ArtMID/6...increased-testing-volume-and-new-CDC-guidance

shocked that child bride doesn't know what he's talking about on an important issue

 

[Big_Sill]

What does the positive rate mean?

I'm no expert, but I was under the impression that the positivity rate is a measure of the testing adequacy, as a way to predict the actual virus spread. Most intelligent takes I've seen indicates you need to look at BOTH the # of tests, and positivity rate in order to draw any proper conclusions. If testing doubled, and positivity rates stayed the same... that is bad. As you test more, positivity rate should go down. Google will be more helpful than I am, but I find the statistical side of this interesting and would love to hear a statistics professor analyze this.

 

[mynameisjonas]

Just a week ago, people said JP only cared about money and not fans health......where are those people now?

Right here. Nothing has changed. If Pollard has his way he would still be at 25k fans. He was overruled.....thankfully.

 

[kcbob79clone]

Continue reading...

In before I read the over 200 responses so far (hand sanitizer and face mask on). Although I am disappointed in the reversal, I trusted the administration when the original decision was made and I trust them now. This speaks volumes of the leadership that can make a decision and is not afraid to reverse itself. In fact i trust them more now that these events have happened.

 

[alarson]

Bruh c'mon, anyone who doesn't believe COVID is a hoax is a coronabro. And a communist. And a Satanist. And a black supremacist. You know the drill.

I contend the real 'coronabros' are the ones who go out and engage in nonessential high-risk activities and complain about having to wear a mask ,and act like those of us who simply limit our risk are 'giving up' or 'living in our basement' or any other number of things they've said to attack those doing the right things to get us through this sooner.

 

[awd4cy]

What does the positive rate mean?

15% of Iowans have runny noses.

 

[cycfan1]

This had nothing to do with "corona bros" this was all driven by the concerns from City of Ames and Story county and their respective business owners that had to close their doors. Kudos to Iowa State for listening, it really shows how close of a relationship the city and school have.

I would hope all of the above were on board or at least consulted about the original decision. I would doubt their opinions changed in 2 days.

The outrage was mainly from those sitting behind a computer screen that wont go to the game anyway.

 

[bawbie]

I think the new CMS regulations for LTC will be interesting, every facility will be testing all staff regularly, I will be tested 2x a week starting this week, due to our county being around 11%. We are a small company but the 90-100 tests we will be throwing in to the numbers each week could increase/decrease rates in our small population county, take in to account the other LTC facilities in the area and it's going to swing things one way or another pretty quickly. Obviously it will have less impact on the metro areas but these tests will make up the majority of people tested in most counties in the state, especially those looking at 10% or more rates right now.

More baseline testing like that (of asymptomatic people) should drive down the positivity rates. But that's very good news - they should have been doing that all along

 

[Trice]

Way too many people have aligned their own personal self-esteem with the outcome of this attendance issue.

I thought 25K was aggressive. 25 *percent* might have been defensible although to announce that in the midst of a wave of national stories about Ames being the nation's hotspot was going to be an uphill battle from a PR standpoint regardless.

Where I think Pollard failed here was in anticipating the blowback he would get. Agree or disagree with it, I felt like that was pretty predictable, and if you're going to make a controversial decision against headwinds like that you need to be prepared to stick to your guns and absorb the criticism. If you're going to change course when things get hot, then you should anticipate the heat and just make a different choice in the first place. (I should add, all of this seems very un-Pollard-like to me so maybe it was Wintersteen who got squeamish, I don't know.)

But now Pollard has the worst of all worlds: bad publicity from the first (arguably bad) decision, another round of bad publicity from the new decision, plus he might have overcorrected and cost himself revenue by going straight to zero fans when instead aiming for 10-15K fans might have been hailed as a "more reasonable" choice when compared to 25K.

But that's just public relations and nobody will care in a few days.

 

[CloneJD]

I contend the real 'coronabros' are the ones who go out and engage in nonessential high-risk activities and complain about having to wear a mask ,and act like those of us who simply limit our risk are 'giving up' or 'living in our basement' or any other number of things they've said to attack those doing the right things to get us through this sooner.

I bet you're fun at parties.

 

[bawbie]

15% of Iowans have runny noses.

This is seriously problematic misinformation. It means that 15% of the tests in Iowa on a specific day came back as positive. It's not total number of Iowans. And a positive test means all sorts of things - including asymptomatic people

 

[Al_4_State]

Way too many people have aligned their own personal self-esteem with the outcome of this attendance issue.

I thought 25K was aggressive. 25 *percent* might have been defensible although to announce that in the midst of a wave of national stories about Ames being the nation's hotspot was going to be an uphill battle from a PR standpoint regardless.

Where I think Pollard failed here was in anticipating the blowback he would get. Agree or disagree with it, I felt like that was pretty predictable, and if you're going to make a controversial decision against headwinds like that you need to be prepared to stick to your guns and absorb the criticism. If you're going to change course when things get hot, then you should anticipate the heat and just make a different choice in the first place. (I should add, all of this seems very un-Pollard-like to me so maybe it was Wintersteen who got squeamish, I don't know.)

But now Pollard has the worst of all worlds: bad publicity from the first (arguably bad) decision, another round of bad publicity from the new decision, plus he might have overcorrected and cost himself revenue by going straight to zero fans when instead aiming for 10-15K fans might have been hailed as a "more reasonable" choice when compared to 25K.

But that's just public relations and nobody will care in a few days.

That seems pretty obvious.

And still. What rock was she under to not be able to anticipate the blow back?

 

[alarson]

The outrage was mainly from those sitting behind a computer screen that wont go to the game anyway.

It was probably more people who never would have attended the game at all, but are paying customers to the university- the students and their parents, who are already very unhappy about the mostly-online but full rate situation and having 25,000 fans in the stadium runs completely against that.

You've gotta remember that Wendy has larger constituencies than just the sports fans.

 

[madguy30]

15% of Iowans have runny noses.

Oh, is that all it does?