MSNBC Science Contributor Joseph Fair, Ph.D., MPH refuted the Trump administration characterization of the WHO coronavirus test. It is the CDC test that failed.
Coronavirus misinformation dispelled
The country is in a panic right now. As I go to all the major grocers in my area including Costco, Sams, Kroger, and HEB, shelves are empty. Trump and his cabal, at the time they are supposed to be leaders, are busy lying to Americans.
The mortality rate of coronavirus thus far while higher than influenza is relatively low for most people except the elderly and health compromised. So one wonders why most Americans are panicking when centralizing our efforts on the most afflicted may be apropos.
Americans are panicking because of the vacuum left by the president and his administration. Vacuums are generally filled with the closest thing present. And given the absence of valid information, it gets filled with speculation and conspiracy theories.
A friend who owns a restaurant in Houston called me very upset. Houston shuttered all of its restaurants and bars. He just cannot understand why such a debilitating and costly wound is being imposed on our economy. Ebola has a mortality rate between 25% to 90%, yet we never saw a reaction like this.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has a mortality rate that seems at worst to be 3% to 4%. Again, why the panic that we are seeing? The reaction has me more concerned than the pandemic at this time because it leads one to wonder what we may be missing about this entire ordeal. Or what are they not telling us?
Mortality for COVID-19 appears higher than for influenza, especially seasonal influenza. While the true mortality of COVID-19 will take some time to fully understand, the data we have so far indicate that the crude mortality ratio (the number of reported deaths divided by the reported cases) is between 3-4%, the infection mortality rate (the number of reported deaths divided by the number of infections) will be lower. For seasonal influenza, mortality is usually well below 0.1%. However, mortality is to a large extent determined by access to and quality of health care.
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