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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. only detecting 1.6% of COVID-19 cases (Study)
Jesus.
In a way, a potentially much higher denominator portends good news of much lower death rates than previously feared. But because of delayed or insufficient testing, the German researchers also conclude that current case counts arent very useful information, especially in the U.S., Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, where response to COVID-19 outbreaks has been slower. So they call for urgent improvement in detecting new infections to contain the virus and prevent second and subsequent "waves" of spread.
These results mean that governments and policy-makers need to exercise extreme caution when interpreting case numbers for planning purposes," Sebastian Vollmer, professor of development economics at the University of Göttingen, said in a prepared statement.
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/04/09/german-study-u-s-only-detecting-1-6-covid-19-cases/5120978002/
hlthe2b
(102,468 posts)Sigh...
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)Deaths aren't counted in NYC. That could be going on other places.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Blue Owl
(50,536 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)John Fante
(3,479 posts)of the country had to shut down to keep it that way. Think about it: we willingly plunged ourselves into a massive recession to maybe keep the death rate at 1% (and that's still 10x worse than the flu).
SunSeeker
(51,774 posts)BGBD
(3,282 posts)that as great news.
Hard to say if it's true, but it would be great news. It would mean the mortality rate of the disease is more like 1 in 10,000.
tblue37
(65,503 posts)but I don't think we are missing that many deaths right now. It's easy to overlook somebody with very mild symptoms who doesn't show up to an office. It's a lot harder to miss a body.
tblue37
(65,503 posts)being tested for cv, and without a positive test, they are not being counted as cv, even though they probably are cv.
Much later, when all this is over, researchers will analyze what they call "excess deaths" to figure out how many more were probably because of cv. But not yet, so we don't know, just as we don't know how many people are infected since we can't do widespread testing.
BGBD
(3,282 posts)Those could be COVID or they could be people who would normally seek medical attention for something else (chest pain, slurred speech, head injury, etc, but haven't because they are afraid to present because of COVID. "I'll just lay down and if I still feel bad in the morning I'll go."
All of those are because of the pandemic, but only some would be directly from the disease.
Even if we are missing say 15% of deaths that would mean we are at ~19.5k deaths instead of ~17k. That, assuming for a moment, that the 26 million cases number is right, would be a difference in mortality rate of like .06% and .075% Both lower than seasonal flu at .1%. It would be the strain on hospitals is coming from the sheer number of cases rather than the disease being especially severe.
It would mean that 99.9%+ of infections would end in survival either way.
All that said, I have serious skepticism that these numbers are right anyway.
Quixote1818
(29,007 posts)roamer65
(36,747 posts)I strongly believe this virus has been here since December.
BGBD
(3,282 posts)it was much longer than that. We know the virus was in NYC by February, but it is from the European lineage of the virus. I think it's safe to assume it was circulating in Washington state by early to mid January. With flu season hitting its peak during that time as well it's pretty have to tell how much was actually flu and how much was CV.
It was just a few weeks ago that we started giving people CV tests without a history of travel or direct contact with a known case.
appalachiablue
(41,187 posts)- DW, 'Millions of coronavirus infections left undetected worldwide study' April 9, 2020.
Researchers from a German university have said countries have only found on average about 6% of coronavirus infections. The real number of infected people globally may have already reached tens of millions of people. According to the authors, inadequate and delayed testing may be the reason why some European countries, including Italy and Spain, are experiencing much higher casualty rates (relative to reported confirmed cases) than Germany.
They estimate that Germany has identified around 15.6% of all its cases, compared to only 3.5% in Italy or 1.7% in Spain. Detection rates were thought to be even lower in the US (1.6%) and the UK (1.2%).
Read more: German coronavirus response: Separating fact from fiction
- 'Just a matter of time': The researchers called for major improvements in the ability of countries to detect new infections and then adopt measures for isolating infected patients and tracing contact persons. If countries failed to do so, "the virus might remain undetected again for an extended period of time and a new outbreak is likely in just a matter of time," the authors warned...
https://www.dw.com/en/millions-of-coronavirus-infections-left-undetected-worldwide-study/a-53066134
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,943 posts)Its like the test delay and bungling is deliberate. Trump said the quiet part out loud when he said he wanted to keep the numbers low.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,526 posts)Vivienne235729
(3,391 posts)Quixote1818
(29,007 posts)There would already be over 500,000 dead then.
ancianita
(36,190 posts)We can already surmise how much more undetected contagion hits this state after Easter weekend.
What this country is going through is planned manslaughter disguised as "an act of God" or "Mother Nature."
Kablooie
(18,645 posts)On average every 12th person you meet Is infectious.