Originally Posted by
ThePenIsMightier
LoL, you sound like my bitchy sibling "yeah, but you probably got it on the plane to come here!"
From a personal perspective, it's about eliminating variables. Yes, I still could've got it on the plane; but, I now know I didn't get it from that glory hole or bobbing for apples outside the needle exchange the two weeks earlier. If someone I was near became infected during that time, we'll know it was not me and that I didn't get it, plus, if I get it, we can narrow down my infection date way better.
Number of positives per test is also a useful metric. A really high number indicates that only people who obviously already have CoVid are getting tested and no one else (exaggerating, but yer smrt enough to get it). So, lots of other members of the population might have it, yet no one knows. Lots probably do have it, and we'd benefit from knowing.
This also leads to more accurate numbers of those actually infected which allows better management of the spread. It also gives the public more accurate numbers. Right now we have anti-mask folks going "there's only 613 cases in Calgary - that's fuck all and I wanna go bobbing for apples at a retirement home because mah rites!!" The number is way the fuck higher than 613 and I want to know how much higher along with a better confidence interval in its accuracy so that we can all make more informed decisions.