Long Beach's COVID Positivity Test Rate Hits 16% -- A Disturbing New High -- BUT 7 Day New Case Rate Dips To 117.5 Per 100k From 130.7; LB Deaths Now Total 401

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(Jan. 3, 2021, 7:25 p.m.) -- Jan 3 released figures on the City of LB's COVID-19 dashboard provide mixded signals. LB's COVID-19 "positivity" rate (percentage of persons tested testing positive) has hit a disturbing new high -- 16%. This means it's riskier now to interact in public than it weas a few weeks ago as a higher percentage of LB's population is now infected (and possibly asumaptomtic but infectious.) LB's positivity rate (smoothed over 7 days by LB officialdom) was 15.0% on December 31 and previously was 14.8%, 14.7%, 14.6%, 14.9%, 14.7%, 14.4%, 14.0%, 13.6%, 13.2%, 12.9%, 12.7%, 12.4%, 12.1%, 11.5%, 10,7%, 10.2%, 9.9%, 9.3%, 7.25%, 6.8%, and 6.4%.

At the same time, LB's 7 day (smoothed) new case rate per 100,000 population has dropped to 117.5 from 130.7, 134.3, 131.1, 128.3, 130.9, 129.8, 124.2, 118.7, 117.1, 110.7, 106.4, 100.1, 95.4, 88.7, 81.1, 74.1, 68.3, 50.3, 46.5, 39.8, and 36.7. It's not immediately clear if the dip in new cases is due to a statistical delay in reporting new cases over the New Year weekend or is a genuine trend, and if so how it correlates to the increased positivity test rate.