[teejers1]

Even if college students have a lower chance of severe illness, that doesn't mean they don't make excellent vectors. I wouldn't assume that there aren't any serious illnesses or deaths because they are not mentioned in news articles. Deaths come later after the reporters have moved on to next shiny object. College administrators have a long record of hiding deaths on campus. Back in my days at Penn, you never heard about suicides. Later, it came out that the suicide rate had been fairly high while I was there.

I'm not the one assuming anything.  I'm just wondering why there aren't reported numbers on hospitalizations, which presumably would include professors, old folks, or other, more at-risk individuals in the college communities where the numbers are up) Why is that never (or seemingly never) reported on? 

And btw, the absent data would also apply to the immunocompromised college students that fullmetal mentions (although I think it's a fair question as to whether those folks - assuming they know they are so compromised - should be attending college in-person right now).  And lastly, no one said anything about "letting the virus run unchecked" through college campuses.  

I'm just looking for data that can help inform risk-benefit and policies for same.

But you all keep reformulating my comments/questions so that they fit whatever agenda you're pursuing.

Well for one thing, it would probably be a HIPAA violation to report that. For another, how would schools even have this data? If they are conducting the testing in their student health centers, they can report number of positive test results in the aggregate. But unless they are research universities with their own hospitals, I have no idea how they'd even know this.

But more generally: the Georgia State QB who's out for the season with myocarditis was, to my knowledge, never hospitalized for his symptoms. And yet he's out for the season. So I suspect folks are pushing back on your insistence on prioritizing this data point because it implies that any symptoms of illness short of hospitalization should be treated as an entirely lesser category of concern, when there's lots of evidence to think that that's not necessarily true.

How about basic reporting?  As in, were the kids testing positive symptomatic?  About what percentage?  Did any kids, to your knowledge, require hospitalization?  None of that violates HIPAA.

And likewise, how about checking the dashboard and calling the hospital and asking, you know, "Hey, with bounce in reported cases at ___, are you noticing an increase in Covid hospitalizations?  And check back with them in a couple weeks to account for any lag.

It's pretty basic and not hard . . . is it?

I've already talked about the QB from Georgia State in another thread.  Best to him.

To Lex:  I've hit on "incremental risk" many times in these parts.  It's as popular a concept here as "hospitalization numbers" are!!!  :)

Edit: A colleague of mine and ND grad relayed that the university is being transparent about test results in South Bend. This guy said ND is reporting on profile of those testing positive (all but 1 have been students; 1 staff person), number of positives and % positive rate, and did relay that none of those testing positive required hospitalization. My colleague said that info was 1+ days old, so maybe it has changed.

[teejers1]

Even if college students have a lower chance of severe illness, that doesn't mean they don't make excellent vectors. I wouldn't assume that there aren't any serious illnesses or deaths because they are not mentioned in news articles. Deaths come later after the reporters have moved on to next shiny object. College administrators have a long record of hiding deaths on campus. Back in my days at Penn, you never heard about suicides. Later, it came out that the suicide rate had been fairly high while I was there.

I'm not the one assuming anything.  I'm just wondering why there aren't reported numbers on hospitalizations, which presumably would include professors, old folks, or other, more at-risk individuals in the college communities where the numbers are up) Why is that never (or seemingly never) reported on? 

And btw, the absent data would also apply to the immunocompromised college students that fullmetal mentions (although I think it's a fair question as to whether those folks - assuming they know they are so compromised - should be attending college in-person right now).  And lastly, no one said anything about "letting the virus run unchecked" through college campuses.  

I'm just looking for data that can help inform risk-benefit and policies for same.

But you all keep reformulating my comments/questions so that they fit whatever agenda you're pursuing.

Well for one thing, it would probably be a HIPAA violation to report that. For another, how would schools even have this data? If they are conducting the testing in their student health centers, they can report number of positive test results in the aggregate. But unless they are research universities with their own hospitals, I have no idea how they'd even know this.

But more generally: the Georgia State QB who's out for the season with myocarditis was, to my knowledge, never hospitalized for his symptoms. And yet he's out for the season. So I suspect folks are pushing back on your insistence on prioritizing this data point because it implies that any symptoms of illness short of hospitalization should be treated as an entirely lesser category of concern, when there's lots of evidence to think that that's not necessarily true.

How about basic reporting?  As in, were the kids testing positive symptomatic?  About what percentage?  Did any kids, to your knowledge, require hospitalization?  None of that violates HIPAA.

And likewise, how about checking the dashboard and calling the hospital and asking, you know, "Hey, with bounce in reported cases at ___, are you noticing an increase in Covid hospitalizations?  And check back with them in a couple weeks to account for any lag.

It's pretty basic and not hard . . . is it?

I've already talked about the QB from Georgia State in another thread.  Best to him.

To Lex:  I've hit on "incremental risk" many times in these parts.  It's as popular a concept here as "hospitalization numbers" are!!!  :)

Edit: A colleague of mine and ND grad relayed that the university is being transparent about test results in South Bend. This guy said ND is reporting on profile of those testing positive (all but 1 have been students; 1 staff person), number of positives and % positive rate, and did relay that none of those testing positive required hospitalization. My colleague said that info was 1+ days old, so maybe it has changed.