More People Are Testing Positive For COVID-19 Because We Are Doing More Testing

An Unfortunate Failure In Logic

As more and more Americans test positive for the COVID-19 virus, an argument keeps surfacing about why the testing numbers are so high.

There are more positive cases because we are doing more testing.

This explanation seems obvious to some people and maddening to others. This conundrum provides a good opportunity to address a common error in thinking Neil deGrasse Tyson describes as, “knowing enough about a subject to think you’re right, but not knowing enough about the subject to know you’re wrong”.

Most people don’t make logical errors on purpose and believe their arguments makes sense. The specific claim that COVID-19 cases are going up because the country is doing more testing sounds satisfying. It’s a straightforward answer that provides comforting reassurance that a dangerous threat could be more hype than fact.

Broken Logic

Testing is the only way to confirm someone has contracted the COVID-19 virus, and if we were doing fewer tests before and more testing now, then it makes sense that the amount of people who test positive for the virus would also increase.