By LOREEN COSTA
1. Is there a way to summarize the standards of testing being used by each nation? For infection status? For cause of death? Is any country yet fully focused on antibody testing? Is it reliable?
2. Is there a way to understand rates of flu and flu vaccination around the world, prior to this outbreak? I’m thinking of the Department of Defense study on virus interference from flu vaccine and how it relates to coronavirus.
3. From early days world leaders were making reference to 70%-80% national infection rates; however, what has not been made clear that this seems to be a) standard discussion in epidemiology for the natural herd immunity process and b) a necessary inevitability. Why the lack of clarity here? Was it an oversight? or intentional?
4. It seems that the lack of requirements for postmortem testing is tilting the numbers everywhere toward an increased Covid-19 toll. How wide-spread is this globally? Has anyone discussed how likely it is that other pneumonia deaths are being inappropriately counted? Especially considering the high-risk elderly living in nursing homes or living alone, are the authorities distinguishing Covid-19 lung issues and injuries from other causes of pneumonia death? How many are dying from the disruption of care for their pre-existing chronic conditions?
5. Who is trying to isolate the virus? Which laboratories in which countries? Anyone? Is anyone trying better to explain why it’s NOT necessary to do so?
6. Are there ways to easily map percentages-by-categories of co-morbidities around the globe?
7. Has anyone mapped area average smog numbers over severe cases/death rates?
8. Is any country testing children? Is Iceland? What might those numbers that tell us?
9. Why did (only) Spain decide to require the children to absolutely remain indoors?
10. How is Sweden really doing…? I’ve read numbers for discussion that maybe their death rates are higher per capita but – again- I wonder how we can “apples to apples” this if PCR standards are not, well, standard?
11. Can anyone tell me why so many graphs seem designed only to traumatize rather than inform? I mean “1800% increase” ?!? This also partly triggered question #4.