New Information on How Deadly the Coronavirus Is and How Quickly It Can Spread

New York city officials released details today on how its most critical coronavirus case spread as quickly as it did.  And this comes on the heels of new data showing that the coronavirus is actually 34 times as deadly as the regular influenza.  All of this goes to show how serious this crisis could yet become-- especially given how little actual testing has been done.   Who knows how many people are carriers of the virus and don't know it-- and in their ignorance are (innocently) infecting hundreds (if not thousands) of people on the bus or subway, at school or work, or in the grocery store?

 

And despite days of criticism over the lack of testing, there is still very little progress on that front.  You don't need a medical degree to know that if don't test people for the virus, you can't know the extent of the problem.

Since the CDC's initially distributed faulty test kits, several health departments have either received new kits from the federal agency or made their own.   After being criticized for the lack of testing, the Food and Drug Administration FINALLY expanded its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) policy so allow more labs can apply for approval to test for the virus.   The CDC said that 75,000 test kits are currently available and more are being manufactured-- a full week past the date we really needed them.   FDA Commissioner Dr Stephen Han told reporters that close to one million people would be tested by the end of the week-- but figures from the Association of Public Health Laboratories show that likely no more than 100,000 people would be tested by week's end.  No word yet on whether the tests will be paid for by the government, or whether patients will continue to be charged.

And of course, even Trump could help lying during a crisis such as this.  White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx was discussing the importance of frequent hand-washing and avoiding touching one’s face as much as possible.  To which Trump quipped, “I haven’t touched my face in weeks. It’s been weeks! I miss it.”  Within the hour, there was a deluge of Twitter users who provided video and photographic evidence of Trump touching his face on multiple occasions within the last two weeks.

And even the CDC is lying.  The CDC updates its coronavirus page every day, once a day.  As of last night, the CDC page showed the following:

Those numbers are WRONG.  The total number of cases is much higher-- CNN and MSNBC say the number of cases exceeds 150.  John Hopkins University, which is carefully tracking cases, puts the number of confirmed cases at 157.  The CDC says that the total number of deaths is 9, when it is actually 11.  Finally, the CDC claims that the number of states reporting cases is 13, when it is actually 16 (see map above).  We all expect Donald Trump to lie-- but the CDC?  If we can't trust what they're saying, who are we supposed to believe?