If you are anything like us, you want access to simple facts at all times. That’s a reasonable enough request, isn’t it? When it comes to the outbreak of COVID-19, we are struggling to make sense of it all. The facts that have been presented seem to be all over the place and they change depending on the country that is being discussed.
Of course, we are not the only ones who have taken notice of these issues. While most of us prefer to have our facts presented to us in the easiest way possible, life tends to be far more complicated than all of that. We are forced to make sense of the information that is being presented on our own.
After all, no one is going to hold your hand and walk you through it. All anyone wants to know about COVID-19 is how they can prevent themselves from becoming infected. That’s why the differing mortality rates around the world are so hard for us to wrap our minds around. Why do they differ so much from place to place and how can we stay protected?
It may seem like this disease has been a part of our lives for some time now but in reality, it has only recently arrived on the scene. That’s what has contributed to all of the confusion. Each country is doing their best to make sure that they are remaining informed about what is taking place.
Obviously, some countries are going to do better than others at times like these. It is all about the infrastructure that is being put into place. Scientists have been studying the virus since its arrival and they are now able to provide more conclusive opinions about what we can and cannot do when it is time to boost our safety.
Mitigating the spread is the most important factor. For many of us, calculating the mortality rate seems simple enough. All you have to do is divide the number of cases that have taken place by the number of deaths and there’s your number. If only it were actually that simple, though.
The reality is much more stark. The number of deaths that is being reported is never going to be fully accurate. The number of cases that are being reported is always going to be low for a variety of factors. Patients may decide to stay home because they lack health insurance or they may be asymptomatic.
This suppresses the amount of cases that are taking place and can cause mortality rates to appear a bit higher than they should. That’s something that everyone needs to be keeping in mind as they worry themselves with the death tolls that they are seeing on the news. That does not mean that we are trying to minimize the seriousness of the virus.
All we are trying to do is provide a little bit of context for the fluctuating numbers across the board. Countries that are more likely to have citizens who are staying home and not heading to the hospital will drive the mortality rate upwards. Now that proper testing is being prioritized, there is a better chance of receiving accurate numbers.
There are other factors that must also be considered when mortality rates are being discussed. Namely, we must stop to think about the effects that time is going to have on these numbers. Some of the cases that are being reported have already been diagnosed. What is the outcome actually going to be, though? Only time is going to tell and if these patients are given a clean bill of health, the number is going to drop even further.
Since we are a ways away from fully understanding the numbers, it is best not to get to worried about the mortality rate. Once we know exactly how many people have recovered and how many people have not, we are going to have a much more accurate depiction of what is taking place. Case fatality rate data tends to be more reliable in these sorts of scenarios.
Take a closer look at the locations where the information is more reliable. The Diamond Princess cruise ship is a great place to start. These cases have been tallied up and there is no dispute as to what was actually happened. The mortality rate for this cruise ship is below 1 percent. The health and age of the patients in question must also be considered. Until we know more, try your best to take the numbers presented with a healthy grain of salt.
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