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Everybody saw this coming.

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Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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He really is that stupid.

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T R E 4 5 O N

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When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Update (Informational / International Edition) – Friday-Saturday, March 6/7

COVID-19 Update (Informational / International Edition) – Friday-Saturday, March 6/7

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  3. 3.

    Andrew Johnston

    Online classes began this week – absolute goddamn nightmare. No one had set up for this, of course, so we’ve had to hastily set the thing up from scratch. University insists on using this app with which I have no experience and which does not feature English instructions. The low-level classes are going to be next to impossible – we’re talking 150-200 students, who don’t possess materials (I didn’t get anything until Wednesday, about 2 hours before a class) and whom I can’t pair off. All you can do in this format is a lecture, which won’t work with them.

    I suppose this format doesn’t bother locals too much, as that’s pretty much what education in China looks like, minus the physical presence. One wonders how a nice upper-middle class couple – you know, one of the ones who thinks that our schools should be more like China’s – would react if a teacher walked into their little dear’s classroom, recited a lecture by rote without any engagement at all and then unceremoniously left. Probably the same way Chinese parents react if you do anything but give a lecture, I suppose.

    It’s easier with the higher-level students, the ones working on IELTS material. You give them an assignment and after that they’re pretty self-guided. A lot of the essays I’m getting back are, naturally, inclining toward the weirdness of the moment. Maybe I get one with some ruminations on how a boring Spring Festival is actually nostalgic; maybe I get one on how our present circumstances are proving the limits of communications technology.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    FTFNYT: Why a Coronavirus Recession Could Be Extra Painful: Its Suddenness

    Often, when the economy runs into trouble, it goes through a slow glide from good times to bad. Other times, it is more like a fast car slamming on the brakes. A potential coronavirus recession looks more and more like the second situation — and that has big implications for how painful a downturn would probably feel.

    February employment numbers released Friday morning made clear the strong pre-virus state of the economy. They showed an economy performing at a high level as recently as three weeks ago, the period covered by the survey on which those numbers are based.

    This implies that if the outbreak of a novel form of coronavirus spurs a recession, it will look quite different from some previous downturns. In the last two such episodes, there was a prolonged period when imbalances in the economy were correcting themselves before economic pain really started to bite.
    ………………..
    There is some positive news. The healthy pre-coronavirus state of the economy implies that there are no huge imbalances that the United States needs to work through to get to the other side, equivalent to the stock market bubble of 2000 or housing bubble of 2006. That opens the possibility for a rapid return to economic health once the virus is contained.

    The bad news is that it will make this downturn feel all the more abrupt, and leave individuals and companies less time to make adjustments in preparation.

    “Because it’s happening so quickly, we could get more of a shock factor,” said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at BofA Securities. “The speed of the shock is important and could result in a downturn feeding on itself more acutely.”
    …………………………..
    The question for the economy in 2020 and beyond is whether coronavirus’s economic impact can really be walled off from the rest of the economy and financial system, resulting in a painful but short interlude. The shorter the impact, the easier it will be for the economy to go back to its (quite good) pre-virus functioning. Maybe the travel companies and oil companies and furloughed individuals will be back on their feet quickly enough that the damage doesn’t spread widely.

    The alternative is that it sets off economic ripples that will affect the world for a long time to come.

    If there is nothing fundamentally wrong with how the economy is structured, after all, a return to the status quo should be perfectly plausible. But as every driver knows, coming to a sudden stop is stressful and painful, and can do a lot of damage that a gradual slowdown wouldn’t.

  6. 6.

    Barb 2

    Thank you for pulling all this information from the internet and putting it in one place.

    I’m in WA state. Our state ‘s Governor is hated by Trump which means Jay Inslee is doing an excellent job.

    Trump ‘s screams – how dare people get sick. I’ve been reading that the lack testing for the Coronavirus has been deliberate – by the Trump political appointee. 

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “As a nurse, I’m very concerned that not enough is being done to stop the spread of the coronavirus. I know because I am currently sick and in quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive,” the unnamed nurse said in her statement. “I’m awaiting permission from the federal government to allow for my testing, even after my physician and county health professional ordered it.”

    The nurse said that she volunteered to be on a team caring for this patient, who was known to have coronavirus.

    “I did this assuming that if something happened to me, of course I, too, would be cared for,” the statement said. “Then, what was a small concern after a few days of caring for this patient, became my reality: I started getting sick.”

    The nurse’s employer placed her on a 14-day self-quarantine because her symptoms matched potential coronavirus. While her doctor and local public health officials approved a test, she said, “the national [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] would not initiate testing”.

    “They said they would not test me because if I were wearing the recommended protective equipment, then I wouldn’t have the coronavirus,” she said in her statement.

    The nurse said that the CDC called back, claiming there was “an issue with something called the identifier number”.

    “They claim they prioritize running samples by illness severity and that there are only so many to give out each day. So I have to wait in line to find out the results,” her statement said. “This is not the ticket dispenser at the deli counter; it’s a public health emergency! I am a registered nurse, and I need to know if I am positive before going back to caring for patients.”

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: If there is nothing fundamentally wrong with how the economy is structured, after all, a return to the status quo should be perfectly plausible.

     

    But this is a fundamentally wrong economy. Too many people are far too close to the edge, and when they fall, so does the economy. How can they keep up with mortgage/rent? What about the people who have no parents’ basement to retreat to? The sudden loss of lots and lots of paychecks?

    Sixty years of Republican dominance has guaranteed a giant slice of the population who have no safety net for their lives OR their contributions to that precious economy that is so obviously all they care about.

    Their fortunes are in the imagination of computers, not in anything real. That’s why they are so frantic to prop up the stock market. But with travel taking such a giant hit, how can that possibly work?

  9. 9.

    evodevo

    Well, it’s finally here in Ky – our Dem Gov announced it yesterday.  Said the patient is in isolation at the UK Med Ctr. If the patient is who I think it is, or contracted it from them, they came back to a neighboring town two weeks ago from Hong Kong, where they had been living for several years. She is probably in her forties, and brought her three kids with her.  We’ll see if they passed it on to the locals over the next couple weeks I guess…

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: 2 things: First, my opinion of Republican economic policy is pretty close to yours, but they aren’t asking either of us. 2nd, he notes,

    The question for the economy in 2020 and beyond is whether coronavirus’s economic impact can really be walled off from the rest of the economy and financial system, resulting in a painful but short interlude. The shorter the impact, the easier it will be for the economy to go back to its (quite good) pre-virus functioning. Maybe the travel companies and oil companies and furloughed individuals will be back on their feet quickly enough that the damage doesn’t spread widely.

    The alternative is that it sets off economic ripples that will affect the world for a long time to come.

    Time will tell which is right, and right now Wall Street isn’t buying what trump and the GOP is selling.

  11. 11.

    Steeplejack

    @WereBear:

    And I would add that the “good” employment numbers touted every month are misleading. Yes, people are employed, but too many of them are working shit jobs—or multiple shit jobs—trying to keep their heads above water. And with few or no benefits and hours trimmed so that they don’t qualify for benefits or health insurance.

    The rosy outlook is fake.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Article: “The shorter the impact, the easier it will be for the economy to go back to its (quite good) pre-virus functioning.”

    Just want to pound the point again that the economy is not working very well for a lot of people.

  12. 12.

    Ken

    @evodevo: Well, it’s finally here in Ky – our Dem Gov announced it yesterday.

    Has Trump awarded your governor the coveted “snake” badge yet?

  13. 13.

    Barbara

    So this is what a laissez-faire approach to public health looks like.  I said this below, but I think it’s true.  At some point, and we are probably past that point, the focus is going to turn to keeping vulnerable people safe, not requiring less vulnerable populations to isolate themselves.  It’s a good idea to limit major conferences, concerts, and large gatherings. I’m just not sure it makes sense to close schools.  If you are vulnerable, and I am on the cusp, act accordingly no matter what you are being told about the risk of transmission.  The risk of transmission is very evidently high.  I read the Washington Post report of the Trump CDC visit and press conference yesterday and I had to keep reminding myself throughout that I was not reading The Onion.  It was truly shocking.

  14. 14.

    WereBear

    @Steeplejack: Yes, people are employed, but too many of them are working shit jobs—or multiple shit jobs—trying to keep their heads above water. And with few or no benefits and hours trimmed so that they don’t qualify for benefits or health insurance.

     

    Precisely. The “resilience” has been scooped out of giant sectors of the economy, as in people who can’t take the slightest setback without collapsing. If we had a healthy population: both in body and bank account, it would be different.

    But, by design, we do not.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack: No disagreement, but (there’s always a ‘but,’ isn’t there?) do economists care? I don’t think so. In my experience we are all just so much cannon fodder.

  16. 16.

    Princess

    The CDC’s COVID-19 numbers represent a systematic undercount. They admit as much on their own website:

    “State and local public health departments are now testing and publicly reporting their cases. In the event of a discrepancy between CDC cases and cases reported by state and local public health officials, data reported by states should be considered the most up to date.”

    Right now CDC has 164. The Johns Hopkins site has double — 338. Fine, but no one should be using the CDC numbers. Which is quite a thing to say.

  17. 17.

    zzyzx

    So if you – say – worked at a tech company in the Seattle area and – just to throw out a random comment – one of your coworkers who sits right near you called in sick for “flu like symptoms,” how much would you be thinking about it?

    I don’t think we’ve actually been in the office on the same day for a few weeks and I moved to a different floor last weekend anyway, but I’m trying to make jokes instead of freaking :)

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Princess:Fine, but no one should be using the CDC numbers.

    The purpose of the CDC #s, the only purpose in fact, is to give trump and the GOP a talking point. Come October they will be repeating the CDC #s on the campaign trail ad nauseum as a way to say, “See? Even the CDC says we fixed it/it wasn’t that bad.”

    Bank on it.

  19. 19.

    Barbara

    @zzyzx: Ugh.  How old are you?  Do you have any chronic or respiratory problems?  Can you work from home?  At a minimum, I would be especially vigilant about washing hands and not touching your face or other people. I would try to work from home if possible, maybe for the next week.  If we had anything like a sane public health response I would tell you to get tested.  But that’s probably not feasible at this point.

  20. 20.

    Immanentize

    So, has anyone heard whether we won all our trade wars?

    Trump weakened the economy, world wide.  Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

  21. 21.

    Jinchi

    The Trump administration seems to be determined to make all the mistakes we saw at the start of this pandemic. Silencing medical professionals, like China did in it’s early days, and insisting on confining thousands of passengers on a cruise ship, maximizing the odds that it becomes a breeding ground for the virus, like Japan did. Add to that the happy talk that the virus is contained, while bragging that Trump is doing a great job because there are only 15, 25, 60, 99, 205, over 300 confirmed cases, mostly in ‘dirty’, ‘immigrant-infested’ states with Democratic governors. All while pretending the number of confirmed cases isn’t artificially low because very few people have been tested yet.

  22. 22.

    zzyzx

    @Barbara: Ugh. How old are you? Do you have any chronic or respiratory problems? Can you work from home?

    Early 50s, no but I am technically a diabetic (I control it through an insane commitment from exercise), and our company has been on a mandated WFH until further notice call since Thursday.

    I’m less worried about me than potentially being a carrier and wanting to self quarantine if I am, but I have no way of getting tested so…

    So, it’s just make a joke of it.

  24. 24.

    Princess

    I’m concerned that we haven’t heard from our faithful correspondent in China, YY_Sima Qian for several days. I hope they are okay. YY_Sima Qian, if you see this, know that we are thinking of you and wishing you and your fellow citizens well.

  25. 25.

    zzyzx

    @Jinchi: THAT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH!!!!

    Sorry, but while seeing my entire city get shut down and seeing the damage it’s likely to do to our economy, it gets so frustrating to see Trump try that line of reasoning

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    @Jinchi:  The Trump administration seems to be determined to make all the mistakes we saw at the start of this pandemic.

     

    We were guaranteed incompetence and inability to learn, and he’s going to keep ALL those promises.

  28. 28.

    oatler.

    “Father, in the name of Jesus, You have promised we have all authority, not some authority! You have promised that we are seated with You in heavenly places, so we take Throne Room authority, and we bring that into the situation of the coronavirus, and we say in the name of Jesus, ‘Virus, you are illegal! This is God’s Earth!’” – Self-proclaimed prophetess Cindy Jacobs.

  29. 29.

    Aleta

    Rupert Beale at LRB   This is informative, concise, clear.  “Rupert Beale is a Clinician Scientist Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.”

    I first heard  about coronaviruses in 1999. Their special cunning is in the huge length and complexity of their RNA genome. RNA is much less stable than DNA, so RNA viruses tend to be short. We measure them approximately in kilobases (kb) of information. Polio is a mere 7 kb, influenza stacks up at 14, and Ebola weighs in at 19. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2), the causative agent of Covid-19, is 30 kb. That’s quite normal for a coronavirus, but close to the chemical limits of information storage for RNA – about as long as a strand of RNA can be without collapsing. The viruses therefore need some clever tricks to survive.

    I remember being fascinated by the RNA ‘pseudoknot’ and ‘slippery sequence’, which allow the viral genome to be read in two different ways simultaneously; the virus can regulate expression of different genes according to the way they are read.

     

    For all its huge genome and clever tricks, Sars-CoV-2 has significant vulnerabilities. It has a fairly feeble fatty envelope, which it needs to sneak into cells. That’s destroyed by soap, and by alcohol ….

    The second great vulnerability of the virus is that it has to take great pains copying its genome. All RNA viruses (influenza, for example) have a special enzyme that copies RNA into RNA. These RNA-dependent RNA polymerases are usually very sloppy copyists. They do not bother with proofreading, and make huge numbers of errors. This high mutation rate enables them to evolve very rapidly; that’s one reason we need a new flu vaccine every year. Coronaviruses have to be much more careful, or else their huge genome will accumulate too many errors. Their mutation rate is therefore lower, so we may be able to develop a fairly effective vaccine – though it will take a year or two, assuming it’s possible at all.

    We can also target the virus with drugs. Remdesivir was developed to target the Ebola polymerase, and may also work against Sars-CoV-2. It certainly works in a Petri dish, and there are ongoing clinical trials in China and the US to see if it works in humans. Sars-CoV-2 produces many of its genes in long, multi-functional proteins that need to be chopped up – by its own ‘protease’ enzymes – into the right chunks. Such proteases have been successfully targeted by antiviral drugs in viruses like Hepatitis C. In my lab we are trying to work out which human proteins Sars-CoV-2 needs to replicate, and the interactions between virus and host may also be good drug targets. But we are a long way off, so in the meantime, what should we do?

    I received an email from a colleague in infectious diseases. His message was in no way reassuring. He made three main points:

    1. This is NOT business as usual. This will be different from what anyone living has ever experienced. The closest comparator is 1918 influenza.
    2. EARLY social distancing is the best weapon we have to combat Covid-19.
    3. Humanity will get through this fine, but be prepared for major changes in how we function and behave as a society until either we’re through the pandemic or we have mass immunisation available.

    He also mentions funding, a little history, China and SK’s actions vs  Iran and US.  Problems for low- and mid-income countries, and the US lack of socialized health care.

    1/2

  30. 30.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:  2/2 from LRB.   Rupert Beale is a Clinician Scientist Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

    From his conclusion:

    Part of the public health response will have to be self-isolation of possible mild cases. You must not go to work. Will it be possible to convince the US public that they will have to endure some economic hardship to protect their vulnerable compatriots?
    …
    I am writing in haste. … What’s very clear is that we must comply immediately with whatever measures competent public health authorities urge us to take, even if they seem disproportionate. It’s time to increase ‘social distance’ in all sorts of ways. And wash your hands.

  31. 31.

    catclub

    @OzarkHillbilly: There was a Bloomberg headline that :

    As Bad as Rout Is, Most Investors See Recession as a Long Shot

     

    This seems crazy to me.  You look at China stopping for at least a month – damage to supply chain that will start affecting industry when the ships that should have been loaded in february  finally arrive two months late -, plus all conferences cancelled in the US, plus people less willing to go out to restaurants, and that sure spells recession to me.

    The airlines are already being hammered.  people see very very short security lines at airports already. Hands up if you are going to book a cruise because they will be really cheap.

    I’m an investor and I see recession as virtual certainty. Why didn’t they ask me?

  33. 33.

    Another Scott

    I just saw a work e-mail that said incoming and outgoing foreign travel is now cancelled until further notice.  It’s good and reasonable as far as it goes, but it seems kinda like closing the barn doors after the horses are in the next county.  (There have been noises in the news about countries refusing entry of travelers from the USA…)

    :-/

    As Martin was yelling earlier, we need to get in front of this, not react 2 weeks late.  (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @catclub: His question is not whether there will or will not be a recession so much as a long one or a short one, which depends on how much damage is done in the short term..

  36. 36.

    ziggy

    @Andrew Johnston:

    Good to hear from you Andrew, sounds like you are doing well considering. I’m also anxious to hear from YY Sima Qian.

    I’m actually feeling a bit more optimistic today about the situation here in the PNW. Testing ability is ramping up quickly. UW virology says they can do 1,000 tests a day, results in 8 hours. As more labs bring tests online, we will have a much better idea of what is actually going on and how to contain it, as well as who should quarantine. And our local leadership seems to be honest and competent. It’s not going to be easy, but I think we can figure this out.

  38. 38.

    chopper

    @Jinchi:

    it’s like some crappy movie where the government screws up every possible response to a pandemic crisis and you’re rolling your eyes at it. well, i guess those type of movies are much more believable now.

  40. 40.

    NamekarB

    I am confused by the statistics and the math. The morbidity rate has varied between 1.5% and 3.5%. Doing a reverse calculation based on the number of deaths, 15 deaths would indicate 1000 cases if rate of death is 1.5% and 428 cases if 3.5%. Are my numbers skewed or are they underreporting the total number of cases?

  41. 41.

    Barb 2

    @ziggy: Next Trump will have a breakdown and start yelling “snake, snake, snake” until he is carried off somewhere. The press will act as if this is normal behavior.

    We are lucky in the Pacific northwest. We have a good governor and brilliant scientists. Plus UW (U dub) has research scientist working hard on understanding this covid-19.

    has anyone heard of ships from China docked at one of the many sea ports in WA? Around 7 weeks ago?

    We need testing for this virus at all the Urgent Care clinics. There are lots of these semi ER walk in clinics in nearly every county. Free testing needs to stay asap.

    Can the CDC and FDA be ignored? Their dictate of testing only a narrowly defined group of people (linked directly to China) when the first cases had no known links to China has blocked testing.

    I’m trying to keep informed because I’m in a high risk category. Age, heart, and lungs. My last check in with my primary care doctor was over the phone. In the little town south of my location there are at least 3 walk in clinics. We are all a short ferry ride from Seattle or a longer drive down to Tacoma. Convid-19 is marching along.. Outward from the first contact. This is rather like the spreading of arrow making skills ect tracked by Anthropologists. Or grinding of brain etc.

  42. 42.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @zzyzx: my husband was working in one of the many buildings he goes to to work on PCs a couple days ago. Talked casually to one of the guys at the next desk. Goes back next day and buy is out “Hey where’s the dude?” On he got sent home to self quarantine, he just got back from Italy. ..

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @NamekarB: At the moment they (mostly) know the numerator – the number of deaths.  But they don’t know the denominator (the number of infections).  So, they’re using death rates from elsewhere where the denominator is better known (or suspected).

    Your implication is correct – there are many, many more people infected than they have identified, because they haven’t tested enough people in the US yet.

    At least that’s what inference tells us.  It seems impossibly unlikely that they have identified and tested everyone infected in the US…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    opiejeanne

    @Barb 2: I have some chick on Twitter insisting that no one is being tested. She says that they have just decided that it’s everywhere in WA and no testing is being done.

    Meanwhile, UW has developed a test that turns around in 8 hours, and the lab will process over a thousand per day, working 24 hours, with 3 shifts.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    I’ll post more once we get a new suitable thread, but I’m really struggling to process the one report I’ve seen that they’ve stopped community testing in Kings County. That was a direct report from a care provider that CDC declared that nCoV was endemic in the general population, so it’s a statement of policy, but I’m looking for any reinforcement of that from the CDC or other sources.

    If that’s true, and there is no efforts being made to limit travel in and out of that region, then effectively the CDC has given up and it’s going to spread uncontrolled. So, anything people see on that front would be appreciated.

  49. 49.

    Martin

    @opiejeanne: This is what EvergreenHealth has posted on their site:

    Can I be tested for COVID-19 at an EvergreenHealth Urgent Care or clinic?
    In partnership with the CDC, we have updated our screening guidelines for COVID-19. We have halted performing nasopharyngeal testing in our outpatient clinics, including our urgent care locations.

    Here’s why:
    The CDC has determined that COVID-19 is now endemic, meaning that the virus is now considered to be regularly found in our region amongst our population. Previously, only individuals who had previously known risk factors (including history of travel, exposure to a confirmed case), were considered high risk for acquiring the disease. There is increased risk of transmission when performing any nasopharyngeal testing.

    This is community testing – clinics. They’re still testing in hospitals. I’ve not seen anything from the CDC to confirm that they believe it’s endemic there, so I don’t know what to make of this.

  50. 50.

    Barb 2

    @Martin: sound like the political appointee is protecting Trump.

    testing is needed – so those with covid-19 can be identified and isolated.

  51. 51.

    Her

    On that Johns Hopkins tally board; Mainland China has been stuck on 80,652 cases since about February.  Now isn’t that amazing!  Over a billion people; and not a single one caught the disease in the last week!  I think the odds of that being true are on par with a raindrop never falling in the Amazon…what a propaganda planet!

    Point being; China stopped testing anyone quite some time ago; as well as filing “reports”; they know it out of control and thus pointless to do so. I actually agree with them here; better to spend time and resources on treatment.

    This is the exact reason the Spanish Flu totals are nothing but the roughest of guesses and estimates; “between 50 and 100 million dead”.

    That is quite an inexact potential spread; and the same will be true when the dust settles with the 2020 pandemic.

  52. 52.

    opiejeanne

    @Martin: Thanks. I got that email fromEvergreen because they are our healthcare providers.

    That they’re still testing at the hospitals is good news, and the first notice I got from evergreen was that the testing would be done at the hospital. Also, they don’t want sick people to just show up at the walk-in clinic, they want them to phone the facility and get instructions on what to do/where to go.

    Evergreen is not the greatest healthcare group around, and Kaiser just arrived about 2 years ago. We are considering switching to them next year because this not testing stuff  is BS.

  54. 54.

    Another Scott

    @Martin:

    Here’s the Google cache of that message.

    Like you, I can’t see anything else on the web that says the CDC has declared the coronavirus endemic to Washington. (I spent some time looking around the CDC site just now.) Maybe they’ve done so privately, but it’s weird that it’s only on that particular website.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    @Her:

    AlJazeera:

    00:22 GMT – China reports 28 new deaths, 99 new confirmed cases

    China’s National Health Commission reported on Saturday at least 28 new coronavirus deaths as of the end of Friday, taking the nationwide death toll to 3,070.

    The government also reported 99 new confirmed cases on March 6, down from 143 the previous day, with a total of 80,651 cases nationwide. Most of the new cases and deaths were from Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak in China.

    Meanwhile, on Friday, China’s health agency reported that at least 53,726 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    opiejeanne

    150 tourists and local crew on a Nile cruise ship are quarantined at Luxor. 45 have tested positive.

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NamekarB: They’re under-testing and the case numbers are understated as a result. But deaths are harder to hide.

    Trump doesn’t even care that his own statements are inconsistent: he states his hunch that the mortality rate is really far below 1%, but if that’s true, then the known numbers of deaths imply a far larger number of infections.

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