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I think it is more likely that wealthy countries simply have more resources for testing, so the stats look worse. Also more resources for collecting stats means

I think it is more likely that wealthy countries simply have more resources for testing, so the stats look worse. Also more resources for collecting stats means that deaths are more likely to be counted. There are a lot of wealthy countries, like Australia and New Zealand, that have had more success than most.

notahacker 6y ago
That's part of it, but it's also the case that wealthy countries have a lot more travel, especially internationally, to spread the disease beyond initial outbreak centres. Asia also has much more practice in taking pandemic threats seriously and responding early and appropriately.
onetimemanytime 6y ago
OK. Suppose USA had 100 cases a day due to very little testing. How do we hide those 120K deaths? https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm
- coralreef 6y ago
  By attributing them to other related conditions
  - onetimemanytime 6y ago
    Yeah, and who would sign those 100k+ certificates? They are thousands of jurisdictions and hospitals in USA. Plus, who in their right mind would believe that in the middle of a global pandemic 1000 extra people a day are dying from...symptoms similar to Covid but not infected?
  - ceejayoz 6y ago
    That becomes pretty obvious in the overall stats. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...
simion314 6y ago
The deaths number is not that large in eastern Europe, so testing can't explain it but I do not have a theory that could explain it, maybe social distancing worked or maybe is the food or something help, I hope it will be solved why some regions lik NY and Italy suffered as many cases.
- coralreef 6y ago
  Depends how deaths are being classified. Ex. Russia was attributing Covid deaths to other causes, afaik.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    The "excess deaths" number is the hardest to fake, because it doesn't rely on classification.
ClumsyPilot 6y ago
I live in the UK and my family lives in Czech Republic and they've been way more organised than the UK from day 1. There is no shortage of testing capacity in CZ, I just had a coronavirus test for £60 and got results immediately. The country closed borders while UK government was busy squabbling. They have masks avaliable in vending machines, post offices, and many other places throughout the city. Wearing masks was mandatory for months, hand sanitiser is avaliable in every public building i've been to. In London noone wears masks in supermarket except asians. In theory you are suppose to wear one on public transport but compliance is like 10%, and seems to be lowest amongst white folks, god knows why. In Czech I have not seen a single person without a mask on public transport. Sonetines money cant save you, but being organised can.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Indeed. The UK government has chosen to do almost nothing, imposed lockdown too late, is indifferent to masks, and has generally treated it as a PR problem to be managed through the compliant press, who don't regard it as a failure.

notahacker 6y ago

That's part of it, but it's also the case that wealthy countries have a lot more travel, especially internationally, to spread the disease beyond initial outbreak centres. Asia also has much more practice in taking pandemic threats seriously and responding early and appropriately.

onetimemanytime 6y ago

OK. Suppose USA had 100 cases a day due to very little testing. How do we hide those 120K deaths? https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

coralreef 6y ago
By attributing them to other related conditions
- onetimemanytime 6y ago
  Yeah, and who would sign those 100k+ certificates? They are thousands of jurisdictions and hospitals in USA. Plus, who in their right mind would believe that in the middle of a global pandemic 1000 extra people a day are dying from...symptoms similar to Covid but not infected?
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  That becomes pretty obvious in the overall stats. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...

simion314 6y ago

The deaths number is not that large in eastern Europe, so testing can't explain it but I do not have a theory that could explain it, maybe social distancing worked or maybe is the food or something help, I hope it will be solved why some regions lik NY and Italy suffered as many cases.

coralreef 6y ago
Depends how deaths are being classified. Ex. Russia was attributing Covid deaths to other causes, afaik.
- pjc50 6y ago
  The "excess deaths" number is the hardest to fake, because it doesn't rely on classification.

ClumsyPilot 6y ago

I live in the UK and my family lives in Czech Republic and they've been way more organised than the UK from day 1. There is no shortage of testing capacity in CZ, I just had a coronavirus test for £60 and got results immediately. The country closed borders while UK government was busy squabbling. They have masks avaliable in vending machines, post offices, and many other places throughout the city. Wearing masks was mandatory for months, hand sanitiser is avaliable in every public building i've been to. In London noone wears masks in supermarket except asians. In theory you are suppose to wear one on public transport but compliance is like 10%, and seems to be lowest amongst white folks, god knows why. In Czech I have not seen a single person without a mask on public transport. Sonetines money cant save you, but being organised can.

pjc50 6y ago
Indeed. The UK government has chosen to do almost nothing, imposed lockdown too late, is indifferent to masks, and has generally treated it as a PR problem to be managed through the compliant press, who don't regard it as a failure.