Buonasera nexiane, Quella del covid-19 è la crisi sanitaria dove con tutta probabilità si stanno spendendo più risorse di qanto mai fatto fino ad oggi nella storia dell'umanità, QUINDI se quello che leggo è vero comincio ad essere seriamente disperato. Oggi, quando ad un telegiornale ho sentito di sfuggita parlare di "errori tecnici" che avrebbero ritardato il conteggio dei contagiati in UK, mi sono troppo incuriosito; ho cercato e ho trovato il comunicato stampa ufficiale che recita: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-statement-on-delayed-reporting-of-cov... --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- [...] The technical issue was caused by the fact that some files containing positive test results exceeded the maximum file size that takes these data files and loads then into central systems. A rapid mitigation has been put in place that splits large files and a full end to end review of all systems has also been instigated to mitigate the risk of this happening again. There are already a number of automated and manual checks that happen throughout. [...] The delayed reporting are all positive cases identified via Pillar 2 testing between 24 September and 1 October. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Quando ho letto «exceeded the maximun file size» ho cominciato a sentire puzza di bruciato, pensavo di essere TROPPO malizioso a pensar male, mi sono detto «figurati, avranno dei sistemi adeguanti»… Poi un caro amico e collega mi segnala l'articolo che riporto sotto, con questo commento da parte sua: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- da come l'articolo è scritto potrebbe essere una storia acida di miocuggino, ma siamo comunque nel dominio del plausibile, conoscendo Excel e i suoi tipici usi... --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Ho fatto un paio di ricerche e pare di no, probabilmente non è una maldicenza di suo cugino: il database nazionale ufficiale (che se non capisco male è pure quello usato per le notifiche ai contagiati) è un foglio di calcolo Excell. Vorrei che fosse un pesce di Aprile in ritardo a causa del lockdown, ma pare proprio vero. Effettivamente di storie dell'Errore causate dall'uso spregiudicato dei fogli di calcolo ce ne sono ormai parecchie, adesso *pare* ne abbiamo una nuova: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/05/how-excel-may-have-caused-l... --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- A million-row limit on Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet software may have led to Public Health England misplacing nearly 16,000 Covid test results, it is understood. The data error, which led to 15,841 positive tests being left off the official daily figures, means than 50,000 potentially infectious people may have been missed by contact tracers and not told to self-isolate. PHE was responsible for collating the test results from public and private labs, and publishing the daily updates on case count and tests performed. But the rapid development of the testing programme has meant that much of the work is still done manually, with individual labs sending PHE spreadsheets containing their results. Although the system has improved from the early days of the pandemic, when some of the work was performed with phone calls, pens and paper, it is still far from automated. In this case, the Guardian understands, one lab had sent its daily test report to PHE in the form of a CSV file – the simplest possible database format, just a list of values separated by commas. That report was then loaded into Microsoft Excel, and the new tests at the bottom were added to the main database. But while CSV files can be any size, Microsoft Excel files can only be 1,048,576 rows long – or, in older versions which PHE may have still been using, a mere 65,536. When a CSV file longer than that is opened, the bottom rows get cut off and are no longer displayed. That means that, once the lab had performed more than a million tests, it was only a matter of time before its reports failed to be read by PHE. Microsoft’s spreadsheet software is one of the world’s most popular business tools, but it is regularly implicated in errors which can be costly, or even dangerous, because of the ease with which it can be used in situations it was not designed for. [...] --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Questo articolo di Gizmondo riporta qualche dettaglio in più: https://gizmodo.com/excel-error-believed-to-have-caused-uk-to-lose-15-841-c-... Cordiali saluti, Giovanni. -- Giovanni Biscuolo