When Numbers Lie
Will we ever have an accurate death count for COVID19?
After reading this article by a forensic pathologist and the ensuing comments, I don’t see how we can ever get a definitive number in the United States. Not only has the death rate of COVID19 become politicized, we don’t have accurate reporting due to lack of testing, different procedures per county for classifying deaths, and financial incentives for hospitals to list the cause of death as COVID19.
As a result, some areas are under reporting and others are over reporting COVID19 deaths. (Maybe they will average out.)
According to Dr. Melenik, we will only be able to know the true death toll after the pandemic is over and only then, by a statistical analysis. Seems the only quantity people agree on is “a lot.”
The article reveals once again how divided the country is even when we all need to pull together and fight this unseen foe.
What’s important is not the death rate but the ability to diagnose and treat people with COVID19, stop its spread, and eventually create a vaccine.
The majority of us agree that this is a novel virus, meaning we haven’t built an herd immunity to it; and we don’t really…
