WBTV: Drs. Janies and Ford speak on limited COVID-19 testing data

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – The limited testing for COVID-19 has made it difficult for scientists to accurately predict the spread of the virus, two professors at UNC Charlotte told WBTV on Monday.

We asked Dr. Daniel Janies, the Carol Grotnes Belk Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics and Dr. Colby Ford, an associate professor in UNC Charlotte’s data science department who specializes in modeling the spread of communicable disease, to weigh in on how accurate modeling of the virus is as testing remains limited throughout North Carolina and the country.

In a nutshell, both professors said the models are only as good as the data experts have to build them.

“We’re having to take educated guesses about the numbers that we put into the model so they can draw the curve for us,” Ford said. “One of the parameters that goes into this is the number of people that are currently infected. We don’t know that and we don’t know that because we don’t have enough tests.”

Janies pointed to smaller counties, like Iceland, that have been able to conduct widespread random sample testing of their population to get an accurate picture of the virus.

Doing so, he said, allows public health officials in those countries to better control the spread of the virus by detecting individuals who have had the virus with and without symptoms.

To watch the WBTV interview, visit: https://www.wbtv.com/2020/04/13/limited-data-makes-it-tough-model-coronaviruss-spread-experts-say/

https://www.wbtv.com/2020/04/13/limited-data-makes-it-tough-model-coronaviruss-s…