I have performed medical work around the world for over 20 years. I was in the Middle East during H1N1 and in Africa while Ebola was raging. Physicians should follow the facts and data and report the actual metrics.
Vanity Metrics make nice bright circles on a map but actual metrics are needed to assess a situation. Why do we only report #of cases and not number of hospitalizations. Why no context on number of deaths and hospitalizations vs. population size?
For the past 3 weeks we have been inundated with story after story about “potential ventilator” shortages. A close look at reports from news agencies reveal the same key words and phrases indicating coordinating messaging.
Everyone looks at number of cases which is meaningless.
Look at hospitalizations and deaths.
Now 3 weeks later there is no run on hospital ICU beds. 90% of people infected who will show symptoms do so in 5 days. Still no run on ICU beds. Why won’t anyone adjust course.
Active Coronavirus numbers don’t even approach last years flu season- 60 million cases, 257K hospitalizations and 18K+ deaths (CDC).
Currently we have 1175 hospitalizations and 696 deaths due to COVID-19 and over 70% of deaths are in CA, NY, WA.
In a nation of 330 million!
Have the positive patients stay home (1%), not the entire nation(99%). Peer review studies on active COVID19 pts. show <5% transmission with direct contact in public. Good hygiene &social spacing will seize the day. Shelter in place will shutter communities & cripple a nation.