The high ups in this world who make the decisions are privy to the data and classified info. They tell us little people what they want us to know. If they are going through these drastic measures, you know it’s worse than we think.
Ohio health official estimates 100,000 Ohioans already carrying coronavirus
Let that sink in. You can be infected for 21 days and not even know you have it and be infecting people the entire time.
I’m really surprised that Ohio health officials hasn’t got more push back on that estimate, worldwide it’s barely topped 125,000 people. 100,000 people in Ohio at this point is very unlikely I’ll explain.
The high ups in the world are currently going through these measures not just because it’s worse than you think but because it could become worse than you could ever believe. The truth is the those who make decisions in this country and are privy to the data really don’t know. The reason why is they haven’t done enough testing to know. Without widespread testing to map the spread any model you would require many assumptions like when the virus started spreading. For a good article on some of the assumptions required for a University level model you can read this.
True number of U.S. coronavirus cases is far above official tally, scientists say
That model had 10,000 cases (on the high side) nationwide as of March 1st. To get to 100,000 cases just in Ohio in 13 days would be on the extreme end of the spectrum.
Trying to extract anything from current hospital cases can be misleading as well as detailed in this article.
The Coronavirus, by the Numbers
Having said that the current confirmed cases in Ohio don’t lead to a 1 percent of the population spread. Ohio is certainly not a hot spot like Seattle, California, or New York at this point.
Just so you know I’m not just linking articles at you, I’m former government employee and have had experience with pandemic modeling. The variables for any model right now requires lots of assumptions and best guesses. To eliminate error you need testing to start getting a baseline of so you can map areas of infection then you can use GIS modeling to really map the spread. GIS modeling you can start factoring in population density, age per census block (high risk areas), network and nodal analysis to determine average commute times and area of local spread, historical trends to get number of visitors monthly at hotels and trace likely areas of spread via air travel. All of this basic GIS modeling would be real intelligence to help you manage resources proactively and determine areas of high concern due to age, or volume of cases. It would also help you setup areas of containment instead of just locking down the whole country like Italy.
Without the testing however, any analysis being done right now is no better than those articles above with huge estimates in the amount infected.
The fact that widely reported projections that anywhere from 20 to 80 percent of the world population will get the virus also shows just how hard predictions are right now with a sixty percent range of possibility. Sixty percent is huge, considering we have no vaccine or immunity to the virus unlike the Flu. The fact that South Korea can rollout drive through testing to get solid information of the virus and the USA can not, should be a rallying call to get our healthcare system sorted! It should be a matter of National Pride if we really are the best healthcare system in the world (and I say this as an independent please don’t take that statement politically)
As far as the NHL season goes baring some miracle cure or something else, I’d be surprised if we aren’t still dealing with this come May. If there playing hockey in April I’d be very thankful.