cutz wrote:
ok now whats going on here Josh Knauer? Yesterday Nov. 16th to today the 17th your Flu Tracker shows 4 new flu case and out of that 2 die that is 50% death rate??????? 363267 cases 3688 fatal(16th) ---now 363271 cases 3690 fatal (17th)

I should preface this by saying I have no real knowledge of how the Mapping thing works. I am familiar with "Official Numbers", which is I assume where most of the data comes from. Following are some of the man reasons you'll see "weird" numbers pop up occassionally:
* Reporting lags
* under reporting due to the fact that they aren't even testing
* under reporting due to misclassification
* Huge number swings as they change reporting formats
* and simply incorrect data due to incompetency, and failure of responsible entities / states to report the data
For instance - a couple of months back there was one week where CDC numbers atually showed almost a DROP in the total number of hospitalizations from the previous week. Still haven't figured that one out, nor heard any sort of explanation. Naturally no one in the "pet pool" of reporters is going to point it out in a briefing & questions section.
I think this map is generally helpful from the standpoint that it at least shows whats going on "Officially", and it does confirm that this thing is spreading, and can provide some trend analysis. The technology looks solid. But the weakness of any mapping or charting product is found in the data, and when your data source is the likes of the CDC & the WHO - you're basically screwed.