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GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev5-Oct-20 1:48
professionalZurdoDev5-Oct-20 1:48 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
  Forogar  5-Oct-20 7:22
professional  Forogar  5-Oct-20 7:22 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
W Balboos, GHB5-Oct-20 7:24
W Balboos, GHB5-Oct-20 7:24 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
  Forogar  5-Oct-20 7:28
professional  Forogar  5-Oct-20 7:28 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz2-Oct-20 6:00
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz2-Oct-20 6:00 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz2-Oct-20 5:58
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz2-Oct-20 5:58 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Sander Rossel4-Oct-20 1:25
professionalSander Rossel4-Oct-20 1:25 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
trønderen5-Oct-20 2:41
trønderen5-Oct-20 2:41 
Find the figures that suits you best, and promote those as The One To Focus On.

Deaths per million population - Worldometers as of this morning:

USA: 647
Netherlands: 376
Belgium: 867
UK: 623
Italy: 595

Cases per million population:

USA: 23,037
Netherlands: 7,926
Belgium: 11,224
UK: 7,399
Italy: 5,383

So USA has far more cases, which is bad in isolation. But it gives you a big number to divide the death count by, giving a more favorable impression of the mortality rate.

Deaths divided by cases (as of Worldometers figures today):

USA: 2.8%
Netherlands: 4.7%
Belgium: 7.7%
UK: 8.4%
Italy: 11%

We can stop there. But hold on a second... This assumes that all covid cases are detected in the countries we look at - or at least that the percentage of cases detected is reasonable similar. You detect cases by testing.

Tests per million population:

USA: 336,253
Netherlands: 142,875
Belgium: 293,269
UK: 368,471
Italy: 194,977

So USA has tested 135% more than the Netherlands, 15% more than Belgium, actually 9% less than UK, and 72% more than Italy. It was suggested to reduce the amount of testing, to keep the case sount down - if that logic holds water, we might assume that there are in fact lots of unreported cases, especally in the Netherlands and Italy. The divisor in the "Deaths / cases" calculation may in fact be significantly higher, bringing the mortailty rate significantly down, for these countries.

Whether or not this "correction" should be applied also depends on what qualifies you for being tested, which is not necessarily the same in all countries. Some places, anyone who wants to, whether having symptoms or not, are tested. In other countries (especially in the early stages of the spreading of the virus), testing was - due to limited capacity - restricted to those in the "high risk groups" and those showing symptoms. Or, if you in one area (city, state) have a large outbreak, you may start widespread testing there, leaving other areas less tested. All such differences strongly affect how many covid cases are discovered, and how many go unregistred.

So let us see how effective the testing is, looking at number of cases detected per test:

USA: 0.068
Netherlands: 0.018
Belgium: 0.026
UK: 0.050
Italy: 0.036

On possible observation from this is that USA is a lot better at "finding" covid cases, bringing up the case count (i.e. the divisor in the mortality calculation). It could be that there are just as many cases in other countries, but many of them go undetected, because the symptoms were mild so they never tested, and the "wrong" people were tested instead.

There are so many numbers for us to juggle, and so large variations in national conditions (and they have changed a lot since March, at different rate in different countries) that you will always be able to find figures to support your case. Comparing figures from different countries without being aware of (/pointing out) national differences that may affect your figures makes them next to worthless (except for rhetorical use).

If it suits your case, you may even dispute the detath figures, which is probably the most absolute and objective fact among all those figures you will find.
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Sander Rossel5-Oct-20 3:18
professionalSander Rossel5-Oct-20 3:18 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Jörgen Andersson2-Oct-20 3:51
professionalJörgen Andersson2-Oct-20 3:51 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 3:54
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 3:54 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
F-ES Sitecore2-Oct-20 3:58
professionalF-ES Sitecore2-Oct-20 3:58 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Gerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 4:37
mveGerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 4:37 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 4:57
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 4:57 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Gerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 6:28
mveGerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 6:28 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 6:54
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 6:54 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Gerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 12:37
mveGerry Schmitz2-Oct-20 12:37 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev3-Oct-20 3:05
professionalZurdoDev3-Oct-20 3:05 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
Daniel Pfeffer2-Oct-20 5:12
professionalDaniel Pfeffer2-Oct-20 5:12 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 5:18
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 5:18 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
obermd2-Oct-20 5:13
obermd2-Oct-20 5:13 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
trønderen2-Oct-20 6:36
trønderen2-Oct-20 6:36 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 6:58
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 6:58 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
trønderen2-Oct-20 9:46
trønderen2-Oct-20 9:46 
GeneralRe: Covid versions - NOT POLITICAL (I promise) Pin
ZurdoDev2-Oct-20 10:11
professionalZurdoDev2-Oct-20 10:11 

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