Doctors And Nurses Say More People Are Dying Of COVID-19 In The US Than We Know

[pat_k]

4. Not a surprise.

As I've watched the problems in testing and reporting in different states, it's clear the numbers have very little to do with reality. The only numbers I would put any credence in are numbers for states like WA and CA -- and I would only give any weight to counts coming out in the past week or so. Before that, countless cases were missed, as the article points out, due to failure to test or failure in reporting/compiling data.

If you have any doubts about how fouled up things are in CA, this quote from an article in The Guardian provides some insight.

California’s patchwork response to testing has also left it struggling to keep pace with the virus, and the state is now looking to establish a coordinated approach. At least 22 state laboratories, seven hospitals and two private outfits are conducting tests in California, but it remains hazy how testing at those sites is being tracked.

“We are cobbling together various approaches,” Susan Butler-Wu, an associate professor of clinical pathology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, told the LA Times. “The whole thing is badly discombobulated ... I think 100% that the system is broken.”