Cool username! 1) Sure! I don't think that really changes my points though. 2) That's only true if the rate correlates with panic, and if the Chinese governme

Cool username! 1) Sure! I don't think that really changes my points though. 2) That's only true if the rate correlates with panic, and if the Chinese government knows that would be the effect. They may be sacrificing panic, over a higher case fatality rate, in order to retain an illusion of competence in identifying and addressing the outbreak. I don't think it'd be out of character for an authoritarian government to care about appearances in that sort of way.