With the mortality rate from COVID-19 currently standing at 0.04% of the population in the US, positive cases totaling over 3 & half million and both state and local governors, indeed the White House making lockdown decisions based on testing figures, a naïve believer could be forgiven for thinking that these figures are an accurate reflection of the [health] ‘state of the nation’.
However, it appears nothing could be further from the truth. To quote the anonymous author of 1891, “There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics”.
On paper, the UK currently has a recorded mortality rate of 0.7% of the population, seemingly significantly worse than the U.S.
And then there are the twists to both tales;
U.S. TESTING DATA
Though not widely reported in the mainstream media, as early as May 21, the CDC, (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) issued this indication that the possibility of positive tests for COVID-19 did not necessarily indicate that the virus was the cause for the positive result;
“A positive result shows you may have antibodies from an infection with the virus that caused COVID-19. However, there is a chance a positive result means that you have antibodies from an infection with a virus from the same family of viruses, (called coronaviruses), such as the one that causes the common cold”
In addition to the tests proving positive for COVID-19, when in fact the subject being tested may simply have a common cold, the CDC admitted having combined the positive tests for both COVID-19 viral tests and antibody tests, thereby skewing the numbers upwards even further.
Then there’s the issue of faulty testing kits. That’s a whole subject on its own, which we won’t go into here and now.
U.K. DEATHS ‘EXAGGERATED’
Yesterday, the UK government stated it was ‘pausing the daily death toll update’ as UK Health Secretary, Matt Hancock ordered a review after it was revealed there were concerns over the figures of those classified as dying from COVID-19 even though this was found not to be the primary reason for death.
PHE, (Public Health England) is the body responsible for producing the daily Covid-19 figures.
The UK government website stated, “Currently the daily deaths measure counts all people who have tested positive for coronavirus and since died, with no cut-off between the time of testing and date of death.”
The measure was taken after academics said patients who tested positive for coronavirus, but were successfully treated, would still be counted as dying from the virus “even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later”.
Back in the US, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, when informed of the CDC combining viral & antibody tests, told The Atlantic, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” …”How could the CDC make that mistake? This is a mess.”
Jha went on to say, “The viral testing is to understand how many people are getting infected, while antibody testing is like looking in the rearview mirror. The two tests are totally different signals”
Right now, that rearview mirror looks shattered.
Porter Medium contributor – Phil Warburton (UK)
