Filed under: China, Domestic Policy, Economics, Europe, European Union, Foreign Policy, France, Health Care, History, Iran, Italy, Japan, Law, National Security, Politics, Regulation, Science/Technology, The United States, United Kingdom | Tags: COVID-19, World Health Organization, World Report
I am trying to keep up with worldwide reports, especially after learning of the dreadful case of Italy who lost so many elderly people, so I checked in with the World Health Organization (WHO), and thought that probably many of you had not, and were depending on the American media, who have become (as Hillary called anyone who dared to support President Trump) — the”Deplorables.” And you can’t trust the media any more. They are trying to blame the entire coronavirus on Donald Trump. Nevermind that he seems to be doing exactly the right things, effectively, and a pretty good job of protecting American citizens.
So here is the website for the WHO and what they are reporting for each country. Again, this is what has been reported to them. Africa is experiencing it only very lightly, as is the Russian Federation. Is that really few cases or lax reporting? Only 304 cases in Canada, and not too much is South America. They have a list for each country, besides a dandy map that gives a visual idea. We are told that the death toll from the flu is high, but I haven’t seen reports of how many Americans died from the flu, nor how it affected other countries. The flu was devastating following World War I, and killed thousands. Have heard constantly from pharmacies to be sure to get your flu shots, so apparently many people don’t or they wouldn’t nag.
China has 81,077 cases, Italy 24,747 cases. I don’t know. Do you hunger for more statistics so you feel more prepared, calmer? Or are you sick of the whole subject? I always line up with “studying up” — the more you know, the less the chance that you can be a victim.
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American Elephants 
Most of the china flu statistics are at best very suspect. In many cases, including the US, we don’t know the actual infection rate because there have been few or none tests of the general population- the many children, teens, and young adults who may have had the sniffles and a bit of sore throat from the china virus.
Without realist counts of the actual infection rate and how it is changing it is impossible to do more than guess at what it is and make any kind of model about how it may play out.
The sad state in Italy is very ambiguous. A good explanation would be that quite a few medical personnel got infected with very mild symptoms and ended up infect many older people in nursing homes who had one or more serious medical problems. So the question did they die “because of the flu” or “with the flu”.
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Comment by logicalchemist March 26, 2020 @ 10:46 amWe certainly cannot trust any statistics coming from China. Communist governments do not admit that they have any failings. Italy has the oldest population in Europe, they have had closer relations with China than other European states, more travel and tourists and business. An Israeli doctor working in Italy reports that they no longer treat anyone over 60, so there’s the source of the death rate. But, I think here, there hve been reports of small children dying, and teenagers dying from the virus, so the idea that young people have any immunity seems to be false.
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Comment by The Elephant's Child March 26, 2020 @ 3:37 pm