QUESTION: US is testing less than 5k/million while S. Korea, Germany, Greenland, Hong Kong...

[DFW]

10. None of those numbers are anything to be proud of

Here in Germany, it is almost impossible to get tested. I tried.

I called everywhere they said to call, told them I had been in Spain recently, etc. etc. EVERY number I called, both doctors and health department (after an hour's wait on hold), said to call someone else, except the last one, which asked if I had any acute symptoms. When I said I didn't so far, they said, then just stay home. I have done just that for the last three weeks but I had planned on that anyway. I know of exactly ONE person who has been tested because he had severe symptoms (he tested negative) and one who was already in a coma by the time he got tested (he tested positive).

The German stat of 11,000 per million is 1.1% of the population. We have around 100,000 confirmed infections here. If that is representative of the population, by exptrapolation, that means about ten million infected, which wouldn't surprise me. My personal bet is that such a figure is probably low. Most infected people experience mild symptoms to none at all, and don't know they have it, whereas some people are just sick with something else and think they do have it

The fact is that no country was sitting around waiting for this virus to happen. They couldn't. They had no way to prepare for something they didn't know existed six months ago.