Los Angeles covid data cooks the books

(Wow, over 2 years since we posted. I suppose it's time.)

Every day here in LA, like pretty much everywhere, the county health officials get up in front of the cameras and talk about the latest covid data. Look how many have just died!!! they trumpet, and the press repeats that number on the nightly news and in their headlines. 59! 62! Horrible! Panic everyone!

Then...about a week later, the county solidifies its data on a dashboard, and that top headline number has, low and behold!, shrunk by 40%, 50%,  or more.

Let's go to the three latest dates that they have more-or-less final data: July 15-17.

July 15:
Press release deaths: 44 (with 2 of those in Long Beach and 1 in Pasadena)
LB & Pas removed: 41
Final dashboard deaths*: 23
Reduction: 18
% Reduction: 44%

July 16:
Press release deaths: 59 (with 5 in Long Beach and 0 in Pasadena)
LB & Pas removed: 54
Final dashboard deaths: 30
Reduction: 24
% Reduction: 44%

July 17:
Press release deaths: 62 (with 1 in Long Beach and 0 in Pasadena)
LB & Pas removed: 61
Final dashboard deaths: 22
Reduction: 39
% Reduction: 64%

Now, these numbers continue to change a bit, but that headline number from last Friday, the one everyone hears on the news, isn't even close to the finalized number--the real number was only a third of the original number.

Sources:

LA Dept of Heath website: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/

Dashboard: http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/

Archived press releases: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/phcommon/public/media/mediapubdisplay.cfm?unit=media&ou=ph&prog=media

* The dashboard does not include Long Beach or Pasadena, that's why I'm removing those from the calculations.