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State Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, said he doesn’t think the testing data has been complete in Region 4 because it doesn’t include the negative results from Illinois residents who use a hospital system in the St. Louis area. He said the mitigations keeping bars and restaurants from allowing dine-in service is “destroying livelihoods.”
“Gov. Pritzker needs to show some leadership and immediately cancel these mitigation measures that he had put in place based on the region’s positivity rate because that positivity rate number is not accurate; I have no confidence in it whatsoever,” Schimpf said. […]
“To me, it’s extremely frustrating that they did this, and I don’t think it was anywhere close to accurate at all,” Schimpf said.
Significant issues with the state’s COVID-19 reporting and tracking methods are likely affecting the accuracy of the published positivity rate for the Metro East region, prompting State Senators Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) and Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) to call on Governor Pritzker to immediately remove the increased restrictions on IDPH Region 4.
“As more and more facts call into question the accuracy of the positivity rate for Region 4, I find it unconscionable that the State of Illinois is shutting down businesses and destroying livelihoods based on a metric that is clearly neither meaningful nor accurate,” said State Senator Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo). “Governor Pritzker needs to immediately lift the mitigation measures he imposed on our region several weeks ago.”
Schimpf and Plummer noted several issues with the state’s data reporting and collection methodology, which could be creating an inaccurate and inflated rate for the region. They noted that IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike confirmed that until recently, Illinois was not including data from some of the largest hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region. One of those networks, BJC HealthCare, provides healthcare to 30% of Metro East residents at several hospitals and clinics in Missouri and Illinois.
“This is a crisis impacting everyone so the lack of transparency and zero accountability from this administration must end,” said State Senator Jason Plummer. “It is shockingly callous for Governor Pritzker and his allies to knowingly use faulty data to implement arbitrary rules that have destroyed economic opportunity for many Illinoisans. Our priority should be to protect the most vulnerable, but this administration is exacerbating the crisis by creating economic hardship and additional health issues for many desperate families.”
Because many Metro East residents utilize Missouri hospitals for medical care and COVID-19 testing services, only including positive test results from those providers would dramatically increase the reported positivity rate for the region.
The Senators also pointed to issues with data collection state-wide, such as individuals being counted multiple times and individuals in state facilities, such as prisons, who do not mingle in the general population being counted. Additionally, according to health officials, some private labs may be submitting only positive results because those are the only results that they are required to release.
* And…
So, are @JBPritzker and @IDPH committing denominator fraud with testing numbers? If so, this is criminal.
— Senator Jason Plummer (@JasonPlummerUSA) September 23, 2020
I’ve been watching these two for a few days now, but I wanted to wait to see what I could get out of the administration before pulling the trigger.
* Jordan Abudayyeh…
IDPH uses an electronic reporting system for labs to report all of their results including negative and positive tests. The majority of clinical labs within the state of Illinois are using this system; while new labs or non-traditional providers are required to immediately begin reporting manually, IDPH works collaboratively to include these labs in the electronic reporting system as soon as possible. Out-of-state labs are also included in IDPH’s network when they cooperatively provide results for Illinoisans.
There is absolutely no truth to these baffling claims from lawmakers in Region 4. There are no situations where the state takes just the positives from a testing entity and includes that in a region’s positivity rate. Any situation where data gets included in the positivity rate requires a full data set of both positive and negative results to be provided electronically to IDPH. For those labs who are not yet a part of the electronic reporting system, their results are communicated to IDPH through a manual survey tool and are not included in the positivity rates for regions. Because the state has worked to include a robust network of labs in our electronic reporting system, the number of positives reported to the state via the manual survey tool is relatively small and diminishing. In the case of Region 4 these manually reported results would have a negligible effect on the region’s positivity rate, even if they were included in the positivity calculation, which they are not.
As for the other claims these lawmakers make about congregate facilities in the region, the medical experts have repeatedly said they are included in totals because there are members of community that work at these facilities who then go out into the community. These facilities are a part of the community and can contribute to community spread. It’s important to note that congregate facilities are not unique to region 4. There are congregate facilities in every region of Illinois and other regions have managed to keep their positivity rates below warning level.
Instead of peddling conspiracy theories that undermine the health and safety of Illinoisans, lawmakers should be sharing the messages backed by medical experts that are proven to reduce positivity rates: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
…Adding… This apparently started with an erroneous claim by a local public health official…
Some Madison County Board members are questioning the COVID-19 positivity rate used by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to impose stricter mitigation rules for Region 4 after Health Department Administrator Toni Corona said during the Health Department Committee meeting that private labs are not required to report negative tests.
Oy. Not true, people. Not to mention that the region’s positivity rate is going down.
…Adding… Sen. Schimpf is fundraising off of this with some flat-out false claims…
I really try to reduce the toxicity in politics. We have to disagree without being disagreeable. But right now, I am so mad at Governor Pritzker that I would have difficulty keeping my temper in check when speaking with him.
This week the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) revealed that when calculating the Region 4 (Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, Madison, Clinton, Bond, and Washington Counties) positivity rate, they HAD NOT been including data from the BJC Healthcare network.
The BJC Network provides healthcare for 30% of the residents of the Metro East and administers thousands of COVID-19 tests. BJC officials indicated to me that they had submitted only their POSITIVE test results to IDPH. This means that our data wasn’t simply incomplete–it was incorrect!
You can read initial media coverage of this development here.
Instead of taking corrective action and reopening Region 4 immediately, this morning Governor Pritzker still maintained that his mitigation sanctions should remain in place, stating he was “rooting for the Metro East.”
No, Governor, you are not. If you were rooting for us, you’d admit that your administration made an incomprehensibly stupid mistake. Own it and take corrective action immediately to allow our businesses to reopen.
If you want to help me spread the word that Governor Pritzker’s positivity rate is not accurate, you can donate here.
I will immediately roll your donation into Facebook advertising to spread the news of this travesty.
Thanks for reading and S/F,
Paul
Paul Schimpf
You know, perhaps if he’d just picked up the phone and called IDPH, he could’ve cleared this up. Instead, he’s basically joined up with the Eastern Bloc.
*** UPDATE *** BND…
State senators Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, and Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said in a news release Tuesday that “Illinois was not including data from some of the largest hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region,” including BJC HealthCare. The St. Louis-based company operates two hospitals and multiple health-care centers in the metro-east.
BJC spokeswoman Laura High says BJC has worked diligently “to comply with all reporting requests concerning COVID-19 testing of Illinois patients,” including those who live in Illinois but are tested at a Missouri BJC facility.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, BJC has reported both COVID-19 positive and negative results to all required agencies including (the Illinois Department of Public Health) and Illinois counties,” High said. “Our reports are based on people who provide Illinois residential addresses regardless of where they were tested.”
Schimpf said Wednesday he stands by his statement. Plummer was not immediately available for comment.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:35 pm
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My state senator, Jason has been out of sight for months it seems. It shouldn’t be any surprise this was his entry back into the limelight.
Comment by Highland Il Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:41 pm
===it doesn’t include the negative results from Illinois residents who use a hospital system in the St. Louis area.===
Nor the positive results.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:43 pm
Meantime, the virus is apparently mutating and becoming more transmissible.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/23/houston-coronavirus-mutations/?arc404=true
So, okay. There you go.
Comment by Mr K Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:49 pm
Disregard my previous comment. I initially skimmed instead of reading thoroughly. My bad.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:50 pm
I would assume they figured this out a long time ago as it would effect more than just Metro East. But, let’s say IDPH really didn’t include them I would suspect the numbers would be even higher. As usual it would be much better for these State Senators to actually work with IDPH and ask for the details and go over it. Instead they just release a press release stating their opinions without any real facts.
Comment by Publius Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:50 pm
The word “fraud” is interesting, given how the national Trumpkin messaging seemingly requires “fraud” for anything measurable or scientific, or if it’s a losing talking point to anything… it must be… “fraud”
Alternative Facts again?
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:50 pm
So your argument is that the entity most likely to see the sickest people not being included in the results is skweing the results to make them look worse?
Got it
Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 2:57 pm
The Madison County Health director, really fueled the doubts about the paoitviity rate in a recent board meeting when ahe said that some private labs may not be reporting negatives. In my opinion she really did a poor job of speaking on the subject.
Comment by AndyIllini Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:00 pm
Nutty stuff from the crazy brigade, but that’s no surprise that they’re basically taking after their Dear Leader Donald. You can buy a state senate seat, but you can’t buy intelligence.
Comment by Precinct Captain Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:02 pm
https://madisonrecord.com/stories/554737449-madison-county-board-members-question-covid-19-positivity-rate-corona-private-labs-not-required-to-report-negative-tests
Here is the background that I think fueled this.
Comment by AndyIllini Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:04 pm
Who are these lawmakers, who peddle fact-less conspiracy theories, working for?
Comment by M Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:04 pm
The statement from the administration doesn’t clarify if the results from BJC are or are not included.
It might have saved a lot of trouble to plainly say so, either way.
Having said, that, if not, and it’s really 30% of healthcare for that area, that’s a lot to miss.
Comment by Fav Human Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:05 pm
This seems to be the new tactic-of-the-week for republican lawmakers.
Attack the math. Or at least attack what you are presenting as math.
The same nonsense was happening in Will county a few weeks ago. With claims that multiple tests on the same person were counting as cases.
Whatever hand-waving is being done here doesn’t change the fact that the virus is still spreading, but now with the help of people trying to downplay it.
This wouldn’t even be a problem if these supposed leaders haven’t been spending their time convincing people to not wear masks or to not take this seriously.
It’s like complaining about a bad call in sports. If you play well enough at a high enough level, you can overcome any bad call and still achieve victory.
This is no different.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:11 pm
OMG. “denominator fraud”
Comment by walker Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:25 pm
Interestingly much of this has been consistently explained and answered by St. Clair County during several of their daily updates. Apparently neither Schimpf or Plummer listened. St. Clair County HD several times gave updates about getting BJC labs into the NEDDS system…
Comment by DownSouth Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:32 pm
Now, I may just be a simple man who got his book learning on Toronto Road, but what the Heck is Demmoninator Fraud?
Comment by Someone you should know Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:42 pm
So Schimpf and Plummer don’t really no how any of this works, but they know that denominator fraud is happening.
But I will say this, if denominator fraud is happening, we should hold the denominator accountable and prosecute it to the full extent of the law.
Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:43 pm
“This seems to be the new tactic-of-the-week for republican lawmakers.”
Yes, it’s also the tactic of the WEAK. Pathetic.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:44 pm
=Having said, that, if not, and it’s really 30% of healthcare for that area, that’s a lot to miss. =
I think it’s a safe bet to assume that’s why the response didn’t address that part at all.
Comment by phenom_Anon Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:45 pm
Please post a picture of Oscar.
Comment by notsosure Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:49 pm
deominator
if you are not including a lot of tests, then the “true” positivity rate could be impacted.
If you only include positive results, and not total tests done to get those results, the positivity rate would be artificially high.
Comment by Fav Human Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:50 pm
===I would have difficulty keeping my temper in check when speaking with him===
Vote for me. I cannot talk to the governor without throwing a tantrum.
Comment by thechampaignlife Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 3:56 pm
Total positive tests
——————– = % positive
Total tests administered
Where is the denominator fraud?
Total tests administered - total positive tests = total negative tests
Simple fourth grade math.
Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 4:08 pm
That’s why he’s called Senator Schimpf, and not Attorney General Schimpf
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 4:26 pm
I can’t tell if this is coordinated or if Plumber and Schimpf are competing with each other to be Dufus Caucus King.
Comment by Leigh John-Ella Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 4:29 pm
Schimpf is probably gearing up for another state wide run of some sort. Gotta build the network via some partisan shots if you are gonna hit the campaign trail.
Comment by Economics Matter Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 4:57 pm
The old denominator trick, eh?
What will they make up next?…when the truth won’t do…their bidding.
Comment by Dotnonymous Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 5:06 pm
==Dufus Caucus King==
If I hadn’t vowed to use my own name, I’d use that one. I L’d OL.
Comment by Dave Dahl Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 5:15 pm
Apparently BJC is now out with a statement refuting Schimpf & Plummer, but Schimpf is doubling down:
https://www.bnd.com/news/politics-government/article245921995.html
Comment by MyTwoCents Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 5:32 pm
Schimpf’s statement was unequivocally refuted by the Missouri hospital, yet Schimpf “stands by his statement.” Wow, that is so on-brand it’s like on the nose, spot-on, perfect in its own delusional Trumpian way.
Democracy doesn’t work in the absence of facts. It becomes mob rule. That’s where we’re at folks. The escalator is going down.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 6:25 pm
Of course Schimpf is doubling down. When your objections aren’t supported by science you just yell louder. No different than the exchange between Rand Paul and Dr. Fauci earlier today.
Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 7:06 pm
Schemp is advertising his run for governor. What a fool.
That being said, I know three people over the past two weeks that got tested because they were in proximity of someone who tested positive. Totally without symptoms. After three days tests came back negative. Three days later they were called by the local health dept and tests were miraculously changed to positive. It does make one wonder.
Comment by Blue Dog Dem Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 8:01 pm
Jason Plummer once again pretends to know what he’s talking about. He and his pal insist that inmates should not be counted when they test positive for COVID. Good thing there aren’t any, you know, corrections officers in those jails and prisons. Good thing, you know, those corrections officers don’t go home and spend time with their families and even go grocery shopping and such in the community. Good thing we have Jason Plummer and pal ready to play amateur scientists.
Comment by Edwardsville Front Porch Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 8:05 pm
=== … don’t really no how any of this works, but they know that denominator fraud is happening. ===
They don’t care how it works. They just want to throw any baloney on the wall and see what sticks. They would help their districts more by encouraging constituents to take precautions than in creating phony conspiracies to attack important public health measures.
Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 8:11 pm
=== Instead, he’s basically joined up with the Eastern Bloc.===
Leader Brady up to this has staved off the infection of the Eastern Bloc thinking or speaking aloud.
That might be ended right here.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 8:13 pm
Does Jason use two spaces after a period on Twitter?
Comment by Sonny Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 9:00 pm
Criminal? Jesus stop with all this all the time. Is it criminal you voted on gambling for the State of Illinois while your family owns a major league baseball team? Nah no conflict of interest or self dealing there?
Comment by Frank talks Wednesday, Sep 23, 20 @ 10:50 pm
Ok, Sen. Plummer has just declared that the IL Republicans are the official party if the Lowest Common Denominator.
I’m so proud. (Face Palm)
Comment by Animus Thursday, Sep 24, 20 @ 9:31 am