Some here seem to portray themselves as having an understanding of biostatistics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
I would suggest that statements such as “statistical outlier” as indicating a very poor understanding of the subject.
Let’s refrain from pretending that we (me included) have such understanding ( unless of course there is training and practice in biostatistics and epidemiology)
Unfortunately we are getting over-simplified information such as Ro, Reff from the mass media and then projecting/extrapolating opinions based on such numbers without even a basic understanding of the subject
Most with an basic understanding of biostatistics understand that in a pandemic, Ro or Reff actually sit within range of possible values framed by certain confidence intervals. So Reff is actually never X but actually X but within a range of +y -z at 95% confidence or another range at 50% confidence.
There is also the “k statistic” which is of major importance when trying to understand biological variability or dispersion.
k statistic is not generally mentioned in pandemic data and is a slightly more complex number.
There are several methods to calculate Reff. moving averages is one.
Another one is Reff = R0(1-Pi). Pi= Proportion of population immunised
I’m not saying we should not comment at all, or express opinions based on what is published in the media but I think we should be a little more cautious as to the true meaning behind these numbers.
See here for
k statistic - it’s a lot more complex that we would like to imagine, BOTH k and Reff are actually important in analyses of pandemic and the Impact of Health measures such as backward and forward contact tracing.
It is not as simple as it may seem
Cheers!