06-15-2020, 10:33 AM
I'm very sketchy about stats these days. Like for me there are many other factors to consider before one stacks one country's stats against another.
1. Demographics - total population, age of population, per capita income of the population
2. Number of tests that have been performed - usually the higher the number of tests the better the chance that numbers can be higher in particularly hot spots than in a country where less tests are performed.
3. The way stats are recorded and the general quality of the tests. The level of sophistication and qualifications of those recording it. Cases can be behind. Like the less sophisticated and lacking in manpower the longer it takes for the test results to become available. The longer it takes to analyze the tests, the greater the chance the test samples are no longer viable and will be tested negative by default. So there may be many positive cases that aren't accounted for, or not even tested. Also with deaths, numbers are some times exaggerated, when after a while in the hot spots every death after a while gets counted as Covid-19. There are also missing cases as hospitals may be too full, and people get sick at home and those cases don't get tested. Then we also have politics at the local Dept of Health who have to tie all of the tests together. They may hang on it for ages to play with the numbers for their district.
4. Not all test kits are equal to one another and some may be more accurate than others, varying from country to country. They are also scarce. Usually when a country goes into many many cases, they limit their tests to only those showing symptoms, health workers and those who have been knowingly exposed. They no longer search for asymptomatic carriers as they just don't have the resources or spare kits available to do so. That's usually when all hell breaks lose and the virus explodes.
Where I am we are in serious problems. All of our local hospitals are full. I live in one of the poorest areas of South Africa with a much smaller budget to create new beds and also underqualified managers and a serious lack of medical staff. There are no longer any beds available for any one. I also live in a small village, so hopefully God is looking after us.
1. Demographics - total population, age of population, per capita income of the population
2. Number of tests that have been performed - usually the higher the number of tests the better the chance that numbers can be higher in particularly hot spots than in a country where less tests are performed.
3. The way stats are recorded and the general quality of the tests. The level of sophistication and qualifications of those recording it. Cases can be behind. Like the less sophisticated and lacking in manpower the longer it takes for the test results to become available. The longer it takes to analyze the tests, the greater the chance the test samples are no longer viable and will be tested negative by default. So there may be many positive cases that aren't accounted for, or not even tested. Also with deaths, numbers are some times exaggerated, when after a while in the hot spots every death after a while gets counted as Covid-19. There are also missing cases as hospitals may be too full, and people get sick at home and those cases don't get tested. Then we also have politics at the local Dept of Health who have to tie all of the tests together. They may hang on it for ages to play with the numbers for their district.
4. Not all test kits are equal to one another and some may be more accurate than others, varying from country to country. They are also scarce. Usually when a country goes into many many cases, they limit their tests to only those showing symptoms, health workers and those who have been knowingly exposed. They no longer search for asymptomatic carriers as they just don't have the resources or spare kits available to do so. That's usually when all hell breaks lose and the virus explodes.
Where I am we are in serious problems. All of our local hospitals are full. I live in one of the poorest areas of South Africa with a much smaller budget to create new beds and also underqualified managers and a serious lack of medical staff. There are no longer any beds available for any one. I also live in a small village, so hopefully God is looking after us.