Maine CDC Admits to Inflating COVID-19 Numbers with “Probable Cases”

By:  David Deschesne

Fort Fairfield Journal, May 20, 2020

   From the start of its accounting of the COVID-19 coronavirus in late March, the Maine CDC had been reporting “Confirmed Cases” of COVID-19 in Maine with daily updates on its webpage, giving the impression that these numbers represented current positive test results for the virus.

   On May 3, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maine was listed by the Maine CDC as 1,185.  However, on the following day the number of Confirmed Cases was reduced to 1,136 with 69 “Probable” Cases bumping the number to 1,205.  From that day on, the Maine CDC segregated its positive case numbers with those two classifications.  As of May 13, they reported 1,372 Confirmed Cases with 143 “probable” cases of COVID-19.

   According to a definition on the Maine CDC’s website, a “probable” case of COVID-19 is for a person who has received no actual test for the virus.  Rather, the subjective diagnosis is based upon if the person experiences fever, coughing, sneezing, headache, or other flu-like illnesses if they had merely been around a person who was tested positive for COVID-19.

   While the likelihood of a “probable” case being COVID-19 under those circumstance is higher, it is still possible that they have in fact caught the seasonal flu, or are simply suffering the opening of Maine’s allergy season.

   Examining the trends, it appears the “probable” cases of COVID-19 were batched in to the Confirmed Cases from the beginning, with the Maine CDC finally admitting it with a subtle change in their data reporting method.

   Governments, like Maine’s, that reflexively and destructively shut down their entire states’ economies over a virus that is currently trending to be no more deadly than a really bad flu season are now scrambling to bump up their COVID-19 numbers seemingly in order to justify their blatant overreaction to the virus.