Current coronavirus tally may represent only 6% of total infections

[www.theblaze.com...

The official total number of cases in the world is just under 2 million. According to University of Gottingen economist Sebastian Vollmer and research associate Christian Bommer, there could actually be tens of millions of cases worldwide that have gone undetected due to inconsistent levels of testing in different countries.

Vollmer and Bommer believe that confirmed cases are only about 6% of total infections worldwide, a conclusion reached by extrapolating from a Lancet Infections Diseases study that tracked infection rates for ex-pats returning to their home countries from Wuhan, China. That particular sample was subject to more extensive testing than most other groups.

How many you know think they have had the virus? I know several people who believe they have had the Covid, including myself and my husband.
Certainly way more of us than have been tested.

Even if that 6% is 16% or more, it seems very reasonable that the shutting down of the world is worse than the measures many countries are using.
Doing a bang-up job of destroying the middle class of the world....the people who least can afford to have their businesses ruined, or their jobs lost.
And even with stimulus help, many others, if not most, will recover slowly if at all.

Governments using official data to make major policy decisions, while testing is so sporadic, should be very careful, Vollmer and Bommer wrote.

Indeed!!!!!

The research
reason.com...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

So what are you saying? That it's not as bad as we're told or far, far worse?

Are we getting herd immunity or are we artifically depressing immunity in order to (for some reason) destroy economic activity?

As far as I can see, we're still in the "none of this makes any sense" phase of the festivities.

It’s all well and good if you or your loved ones are not at high risk. The likelihood being that you will get through okay, no effects, no struggling to breath, no drowning in your own thick mucus.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so fortunate, and if I lose one loved one as a result of government negligence, then that would be unforgivable.

But hey oh, capitalism is worth saving over and beyond any person right?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Exactamundo I have been banging my little drum to this for a while, more people have it or have had it and they have recovered ergo we are well on our way to herd immunity hopefully. Still need to cautious with the elderly for instance but as nationwide far shutdowns time to move away from that

I wonder which Countries have the best "testing" and how their "testing" relates to their economy strategies ?

👁️ 🪀 👁️

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

What about all of us that lost loved ones from the opioid epidemic? Why didn’t the whole world shut down to help those people or the many lost loved ones from cancer. Shutting down the world for any crisis is just dumb and if you lose a loved ones due to one then it’s unfortunate but also life.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
It’s all well and good if you or your loved ones are not at high risk. The likelihood being that you will get through okay, no effects, no struggling to breath, no drowning in your own thick mucus.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so fortunate, and if I lose one loved one as a result of government negligence, then that would be unforgivable.

But hey oh, capitalism is worth saving over and beyond any person right?

Of course, you still need to be cautious with the at-risk persons, we have my 80-year-old mom we are taking care of. Duhhh

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

As a Canadian. I am doing what I am told by federal, provincial and municipal governments on the advice of "experts" that know only what they know. As a Canadian citizen, I have no ability to question these orders and obviously I am not constitutionally empowered to challenge these orders.

I wonder though, as an American, why you are taking this dry? Why do you bother with your second amendment rights if you dont use them.

Use em or lose em. I dare you.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

How is the government responsible for that? If it were any other illness, would they also be responsible? If they are at so much risk, would it not be in their best interest to be proactive and keep themselves secluded and apart from other people anyway? Do they not worry about the flu? I mean, come on now.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe

How many you know think they have had the virus? I know several people who believe they have had the Covid, including myself and my husband.
Certainly way more of us than have been tested.

I and those around me are not aware of anyone yet who has had it, only

the TV and the odd celebrity in the news, no wonder many people are

sceptic.

The people like yourself and husband who believe they have had it and

got over it just makes one wonder of the seriousness of it.

The few in the government, and Prince Charles who believed they also

had it isolated themselves and are now over it. Boris is the only one of

those who has been in ICU and he has recovered! This makes one think it

isn't a definate death sentence?

Even if that 6% is 16% or more, it seems very reasonable that the shutting down of the world is worse than the measures many countries are using.
Doing a bang-up job of destroying the middle class of the world....the people who least can afford to have their businesses ruined, or their jobs lost.
And even with stimulus help, many others, if not most, will recover slowly if at all.

This is what I find so frightening.........for instance the mega inflation in

Germany prior to the war.......America's wall street crash and so on.......

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

What about all of us that lost loved ones from the opioid epidemic? Why didn’t the whole world shut down to help those people or the many lost loved ones from cancer. Shutting down the world for any crisis is just dumb and if you lose a loved ones due to one then it’s unfortunate but also life.

Because those illnesses are not contagious and mainly a life style choice. Not always, but in the main they are. If there is a contagious disease that can be managed through various means, including shutting down cities or countries, then it makes sense surely?

You argument is weak, or at best clutching at straws.

a reply to: billxam

If we're only seeing 6% of cases because of lack of testing and there aren't piles of bodies sitting around (people mysteriously dead), then I'd say the conclusion in that instance would be that it's nowhere near as bad as we were told it would be, nowhere near as bad as we're told it is.

None of that means it hasn't gotten badly out of control in some places, and what we really need to be studying is why it gets so virulent in those places while it appears to have flown under the radar so much in so many other places.

originally posted by: BoscoMoney
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

How is the government responsible for that? If it were any other illness, would they also be responsible? If they are at so much risk, would it not be in their best interest to be proactive and keep themselves secluded and apart from other people anyway? Do they not worry about the flu? I mean, come on now.

Right on!

My father had a trip to the hospital during this fiasco. In his 80's. If he would have died, which he didn't. I could guarantee you 2 things.

1 He would have been listed as a death to CV.
2 I sure as hell wouldn't of blamed it on Capitalism

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

What about all of us that lost loved ones from the opioid epidemic? Why didn’t the whole world shut down to help those people or the many lost loved ones from cancer. Shutting down the world for any crisis is just dumb and if you lose a loved ones due to one then it’s unfortunate but also life.

You do realise..addicts do it to themselves, they don't catch an overdose at the grocery store.

Former addict here.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Not really.

There are plenty of infectious diseases that can easily kill someone under the right circumstances that we routinely go about our business even as they circulate among us all the time.

If this one is largely behaving like they do, then why treat this one much differently? Why destroy the world economy over this particular one and none of the rest?

Well hurp de durr everyone there's a tornado outside so I guess I better go out and walk around. If I die make sure to blame everyone else but myself for it! Thanks!

originally posted by: BoscoMoney
Well hurp de durr everyone there's a tornado outside so I guess I better go out and walk around. If I die make sure to blame everyone else but myself for it! Thanks!

Well hurp de durr ... I live in a large county, and my county just got put under a tornado warning. I know where that tornado is, and it's 30 miles away and heading the opposite direction from me, but because I was put under a tornado warning by an "expert" ... I better go and tuck my butt into the basement now because I'm going to die.

originally posted by: BoscoMoney
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

How is the government responsible for that? If it were any other illness, would they also be responsible? If they are at so much risk, would it not be in their best interest to be proactive and keep themselves secluded and apart from other people anyway? Do they not worry about the flu? I mean, come on now.

What other contagious illnesses are you talking about?

Seasonal flu, most people’s immune systems can deal with this. This is a novel virus, do some research on novel viruses..

Seriously people, if things were allowed just to continue as they were, you would all be screaming that the government’s of the world have let us all down.

Some countries left it late, others dealt with it before it could grasp their countries.

It’s a virulent disease, one that spreads faster than seasonal flu. History will tell it’s own story on those countries that did or did not do the right thing and it will also judge its citizens on how they behaved during this time.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

I'm looking at this and I'm looking at Spanish Flu. Compared to that, we're a bunch of babies.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

I'm looking at this and I'm looking at Spanish Flu. Compared to that, we're a bunch of babies.

Because we weren’t as global back then. If we were back in 1918 and this disease came about, we would be witnessing similar results.

ETA - Additionally because we are so global, the spread has happened quicker that it did back then,