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>The US has a very good level of testing/mask usage. And, to be blunt, just wear a mask and wash your hands...you will be okay. If this is true, why is the out

by slg 6y ago

>The US has a very good level of testing/mask usage. And, to be blunt, just wear a mask and wash your hands...you will be okay. If this is true, why is the outbreak here so much worse than basically any of our peer countries?

refurb 6y ago
How do you define worse? Number of deaths? If so, the US is doing better than many countries. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/899365887/charts-how-the-u-s-ranks-on-covid-19-deaths-per-capita-and-by-case-count https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/8993658...
- slg 6y ago
  Totals are misleading due to each countries varied handling of the initial pandemic. Our peers are not still struggling with this the way we continue to struggle. I did some quick math based off the numbers here as an example[1][2]. The UK has had 3.0 COVID-19 deaths over the last three days per million people. The US has had nearly four times that many deaths with 11.8 per million people in that same 3 day time frame. [1] - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/ [2] - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
  - refurb 6y ago
    Sure, that might tell you how it’s going right now, but in the end you just care about the total impacted. And looking in the last 3 days is misleading since we know the pandemic hits in waves, at different times, across different countries.
    - slg 6y ago
      >Sure, that might tell you how it’s going right now, but in the end you just care about the total impacted. The problem is we aren't at the end yet. Any time frame you use is therefore going to give you an incomplete picture. I used the last three days because it shows that the US is clearly in a worse current position. That means we will continue creeping up that initial per capita list you linked. Maybe the UK, Spain, France, or Italy experience a second wave at some point down the line, but at least they have gotten past the first wave that the US still hasn't been able to stop.
      - refurb 6y ago
        Gotcha. I agree we're not at the end (or even close) so it's premature to start naming winners and losers. Instead of saying "better" I should have said "has fewer per capita deaths so far".
- ModernMech 6y ago
  There are about 50 countries with cases over 50k, 40 of which are missing from that chart. Being 8/50 is I think indicative of being worse. I think the statistic that shows just how bad the US is doing is that they account for 23% of the world's total Covid deaths but only 3% of the world total population. How can a country doing a good job have those kinds of numbers? But as you said in your other reply, we understand Covid to be a regional disease that comes in waves, washing over a region and then subsiding. For smaller, denser countries in Europe, it is easier for this disease to reach all regions. America is vast with a much lower population density, and the virus is taking its time finding its way around. However, if you break the US down into regions you can see how bad it is. NY state has a comparable population density to Italy (162 vs 200 for Italy), and both were hard hit at the beginning of this thing. New York state suffered 1,687 deaths per million, while Italy only suffered 582 deaths per million so far. This I think provides a more nuanced picture rather than just looking at deaths per million by country. Population density is really a factor here.
  - mensetmanusman 6y ago
    Exactly this, we need heat maps that are per capita focused so people can gauge risk.

by slg 6y ago

refurb 6y ago

How do you define worse? Number of deaths? If so, the US is doing better than many countries. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/899365887/charts-how-the-u-s-ranks-on-covid-19-deaths-per-capita-and-by-case-count https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/05/8993658...

slg 6y ago
Totals are misleading due to each countries varied handling of the initial pandemic. Our peers are not still struggling with this the way we continue to struggle. I did some quick math based off the numbers here as an example[1][2]. The UK has had 3.0 COVID-19 deaths over the last three days per million people. The US has had nearly four times that many deaths with 11.8 per million people in that same 3 day time frame. [1] - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/ [2] - https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
- refurb 6y ago
  Sure, that might tell you how it’s going right now, but in the end you just care about the total impacted. And looking in the last 3 days is misleading since we know the pandemic hits in waves, at different times, across different countries.
  - slg 6y ago
    >Sure, that might tell you how it’s going right now, but in the end you just care about the total impacted. The problem is we aren't at the end yet. Any time frame you use is therefore going to give you an incomplete picture. I used the last three days because it shows that the US is clearly in a worse current position. That means we will continue creeping up that initial per capita list you linked. Maybe the UK, Spain, France, or Italy experience a second wave at some point down the line, but at least they have gotten past the first wave that the US still hasn't been able to stop.
    - refurb 6y ago
      Gotcha. I agree we're not at the end (or even close) so it's premature to start naming winners and losers. Instead of saying "better" I should have said "has fewer per capita deaths so far".
ModernMech 6y ago
There are about 50 countries with cases over 50k, 40 of which are missing from that chart. Being 8/50 is I think indicative of being worse. I think the statistic that shows just how bad the US is doing is that they account for 23% of the world's total Covid deaths but only 3% of the world total population. How can a country doing a good job have those kinds of numbers? But as you said in your other reply, we understand Covid to be a regional disease that comes in waves, washing over a region and then subsiding. For smaller, denser countries in Europe, it is easier for this disease to reach all regions. America is vast with a much lower population density, and the virus is taking its time finding its way around. However, if you break the US down into regions you can see how bad it is. NY state has a comparable population density to Italy (162 vs 200 for Italy), and both were hard hit at the beginning of this thing. New York state suffered 1,687 deaths per million, while Italy only suffered 582 deaths per million so far. This I think provides a more nuanced picture rather than just looking at deaths per million by country. Population density is really a factor here.
- mensetmanusman 6y ago
  Exactly this, we need heat maps that are per capita focused so people can gauge risk.