Post by account_disabled on Mar 5, 2024 5:57:49 GMT
International Institute for Public Health, United Nations University Public health epidemiology is the science of counting, to prevent disease and promote health. We count the number of new cases of a particular disease; this is the incidence. We then calculate how much a disease has spread in a population; this is the prevalence. When it comes to COVID-19, counting is a challenge. Despite all the articles and news reports, we know very little about the incidence or spread of this new disease. And as always happens: ignorance breeds fear. In my hometown, New York and elsewhere, a fear has gripped almost everyone's mind: the death rate here appears to be significantly higher than the rates reported elsewhere.
Is it really so? Using patient data from Cambodia Telegram Number Data China, public health officials initially estimated that 80% of COVID-19 cases are either asymptomatic or have mild disease. Given that hospital beds, health workers and testing equipment are in short supply, only symptomatic people are advised to go to hospital. Due to a lack of sufficient testing, including in the United States, in many countries only hospitalized patients are counted as cases. People who do not feel seriously ill stay at home, recover quietly, and are never counted. This is important because they do not appear in any of the official statistics.
Read also: Covid-19 returns to Albania, 30% of cases are positive Infections with COVID-19 are increasing in Europe Take for example an elderly New Yorker who is ill but in mild condition. She calls her family doctor, who makes a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 based on her symptoms, but not a test. Because she is not very sick, she is advised to stay at home. There is no mechanism for her doctor to report the lady's diagnosis to the health authorities, so if she gets better, it never counts. Only if she gets sick enough to be admitted to the hospital does she count as a COVID-19 case.
Is it really so? Using patient data from Cambodia Telegram Number Data China, public health officials initially estimated that 80% of COVID-19 cases are either asymptomatic or have mild disease. Given that hospital beds, health workers and testing equipment are in short supply, only symptomatic people are advised to go to hospital. Due to a lack of sufficient testing, including in the United States, in many countries only hospitalized patients are counted as cases. People who do not feel seriously ill stay at home, recover quietly, and are never counted. This is important because they do not appear in any of the official statistics.
Read also: Covid-19 returns to Albania, 30% of cases are positive Infections with COVID-19 are increasing in Europe Take for example an elderly New Yorker who is ill but in mild condition. She calls her family doctor, who makes a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 based on her symptoms, but not a test. Because she is not very sick, she is advised to stay at home. There is no mechanism for her doctor to report the lady's diagnosis to the health authorities, so if she gets better, it never counts. Only if she gets sick enough to be admitted to the hospital does she count as a COVID-19 case.