How much do you know about COVID in Modesto and Stanislaus County? Take our quiz
Which number is greater? See answers below.
1.
a) Total COVID cases in the United States
b) Population of Ukraine
2.
a) COVID deaths in the United States
b) Population of Stanislaus County
3.
a) Percentage of Stanislaus residents born in the United States
b) Percentage of Stanislaus COVID deaths among unvaccinated people
4.
a) Fully vaccinated Stanislaus residents
b) COVID deaths in Mexico
5.
a) COVID cases in Patterson (population 23,074), past 30 days
b) COVID cases in Oakdale (population 22,997), past 30 days
6.
a) Modesto City Schools employees
b) Staff testing positive for COVID in all schools throughout Stanislaus County
7.
a) Stanislaus children 5-11 years testing positive for COVID
b) Stanislaus children 12-15 years testing positive for COVID
8.
a) Stanislaus deaths among white residents, who comprise 41% of the county population
b) Stanislaus deaths among Latino residents, who comprise 47% of the county population
9.
a) Stanislaus COVID deaths, first year of the pandemic
b) Stanislaus COVID deaths, Year 2 of the pandemic
10.
a) COVID deaths in New Zealand, population 5 million
b) COVID deaths in Modesto, population 222,335
11.
a) COVID deaths in California
b) Turlock’s population
c) Registered Republicans in Stanislaus County
Answers
1. Before the war, Ukraine had about 44 million people, while the United States has tallied nearly 81 million COVID cases. So the answer is a) by a long shot.
2. a) The number of COVID victims across the country, now 979,725, surpassed Stanislaus’ 557,700 population several months ago. Think about it: The mighty United States has lost to this virus far more than the equivalent of every man, woman and child in Stanislaus County.
3. Nearly 80% of Stanislaus residents were born in the U.S., according to the Census. Unvaccinated Stanislaus people comprise 82% of our COVID deaths. It’s close, but the answer is b).
4. Stanislaus residents who have been vaxxed and boosted come to 307,000, while 318,835 people in Mexico have died of COVID, so it’s b).
5. a) In the past 30 days, Patterson recorded 268 cases and Oakdale, 234. The ratio of cases to population is about the same.
6. MCS has about 3,200 adult staff, while 2,349 employees in all schools throughout the county have tested positive. So the answer is a).
7. This is sort of a trick question, because there are far more students ages 5 to 11 (a seven-year spread) than those aged 12 to 15 (only four years). We’re not sure why government uses these reporting parameters. For the record, 5,668 students have tested positive in the first category compared to 3,947 in the second, so the answer is a).
8. Numbers don’t lie: 47.5% of our COVID dead were white compared to 35.4% Latino, a reversal from early days of the pandemic. Public health officials should explain the turnaround — success in outreach to disadvantaged neighborhoods, or vaccine skepticism among willfully stubborn whites? Or both?
9. With no vaccine until the last few weeks of Year 1, Stanislaus lost 963 souls. In the second year now ending — with more than half our people vaccinated or with stronger immunity because they’ve had the coronavirus — we lost 694. If that’s not a testimonial for getting vaxxed, I don’t know what is. The answer is a).
By the way, Modesto lost 410 COVID victims in Year 1 and 291 in Year 2.
10. b) Although New Zealand has 22 times our population, Modesto has lost 701 souls, while the island nation with strict containment policies has lost 56.
11. In California, 85,722 people have died of COVID-related illness, while Turlock’s population is about 75,000. But Stanislaus Republicans number 98,273 (Democrats: 109,776), so it’s c) .
Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t score well on this quiz. It’s not meant to measure intelligence or awareness, but to provide a little reflection around the second anniversary of the coronavirus arriving here. Also, the answer options to many questions are so close to each other that it didn’t really matter which you chose.
What matters is what we’ve learned, where we’re headed and our commitment to each other.
