A theory about online candle reviews and COVID-19 cases was put under the microscope, and has taken on new relevance amid concern at the lack of official data heading into another winter.
Beauchamp's initial tweets on the findings in December 2021 went viral as well, and he scrambled to add more data to find a definitive answer.
"That is either due to lack of measurement of COVID, or worse measurements of COVID, or maybe something else changing. I presume the reviews themselves weren't changing very much," Beauchamp said. He also cited reduced wastewater measurements, and said the frequent attention on the Yankee Candle reviews was an example of how many people were still invested in tracking COVID numbers.
As time passed, new issues presented themselves, like reinfections and how to document them. Karan also cited the reduction of testing and its decentralization as other hurdles. Many people have stopped testing frequently, if at all, and those choosing to test at home often do not report their results to public health departments.At-home tests have been useful for many, but have also decentralized the documentation of positive results.