The E wrote:TFLYTSNBN wrote:When numbers of onfirmed infections or deaths attributed to the virus per million people are compared, the US is doing much, much better than most Wester European countries.
I have. O doubt that you are smart enough to understand the math. You are simply to dishonest to acknowledge the math.
And you're clearly not smart enough to accurately see the limits inherent in the data due to a lack of testing. As we saw in some cities in Italy, there are a number of deaths that aren't counted as covid-related because the people who passed were never, not before and not after death, tested for covid.
Only in countries with comprehensive testing regimes that cover a lot more people than what testing in the US is currently able to can we make accurate statements about the death rate.
So, in other words: The raw data available to us is painting a misleading picture of the state of covid in the US. There are very few countries where we can actually make statements with confidence; South Korea is the prime example here.
The final picture will only emerge in a couple of weeks or months, but we can already say that unless China is massively underreporting things, the US will end up as the single worst outbreak amongst first-world nations, Italy included, both in absolute and relative terms.
Part of the issue is that it is hard to do apples to apples comparisons between US and small densely populated countries like Italy and Great Britian. How will our huge, lightly populated rural areas like South Dakota be impacted compared to urban ones, such as NYC or even Sioux Falls? I wonder if a more appropriate comparison might be between NYC and Milan...
Another factor to consider is our individualism. Americans are not good at being told what to do. In this situation, that could come back to bite us. So I am not optimistic that we will end up looking good compared with countries with better compliance rates on shut down and stay at home orders.
It's sobering to observe that about 70% of the deaths are folks in my age bracket and above, mostly because we are much more likely to have complicating health issues.
My wife and I are forted up. Our groceries are delivered. As a release valve, we are both readers. We go for rides in the country without stopping and getting out of the car and exposing ourselves to others. I have a nice big yard to care for. Then, I have amateur radio.
So for us, life is still good. My prayers are that all of you are faring as well.
Don
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