Dr. John Campbell with a March 6 update:
His combination of hi-tech split-screen YouTubing with lo-tech paper-not-PowerPoint visuals is kind of cute, and surprisingly easy to follow. Dispiritingly, Dr. Campbell says he fully expects to become one of the infected at this point because he sees around 70% of the population eventually being infected. He urges mentally and physically sluggish world governments to be more proactive, not reactive.
From Instapundit:
"Former Hostage-taker of US Diplomats Dies of Coronavirus in Iran"
You can imagine all the "karma's a bitch" and "divine justice" comments.
From CBS News:
"Astonishing Photos Reveal How Coronavirus Has Left World Landmarks Deserted"
As Styx and others have said, China is doubtless lying about its virus stats. This from the dreaded MSNBC:
"Richard Engel: 'Skeptical' of the Decreasing Coronavirus Cases out of China"
And this interesting tidbit about South Korea:
"South Korea has tested 140,000 people for the coronavirus. That could explain why its death rate is just 0.6% — far lower than in China or the US."
In that same vein, ROK Drop just embedded this tweet:
WHO: #coronavirus death rate is 3.4%
— William Kim 김영권 (@NKMESSENGER) March 4, 2020
Today’s Top 5 (March 4)
China (2900/80,200) 3.61%
S.Korea (35/5621) 0.61%
Iran (92/2922) 3.14%
Italy (80/2502) 3.19%
Japan (21/1001) 2.09%
South #Korea is impressive!
This confirms my general confidence in the South Korean way of handling things: openly, truthfully, and industriously. All of this risks making South Korea look far worse than other countries (like China and Iran) that are busily hiding their data instead of truthfully broadcasting it. Dr. Campbell, above, thinks the US response to the virus has been "lamentable," although it's possible he's been a victim of the US media's myth that Trump called the virus "a hoax" (Trump did no such thing). He also says the response of the UK healthcare system has been too lackadaisical, with everyday Britons themselves being part of the problem. South Korea has taken the outbreak fairly seriously, although the whole desperate "wear a mask!" thing is partially based on magical thinking. I now have a sort-of mask, but it's purely for theatrical purposes. I don't want to become a victim of street violence due to a combination of leper-stigma, superstition, and xenophobia.
2 comments:
I really like listening to the good doctor. Expert opinion without the grandstanding.
Ross
I wore a mask when I went out today, but more because the air quality was crappy!
And it does feel a little unfair that Korea has been treated like an international pariah when it is one of the few nations being open about what is going on, not to mention being on the ball when it comes to testing. If you extrapolate based on the current Korean lethality rate (which is probably the closest thing we have to the actually lethality rate), Italy might have over 30,000 cases, while Iran might have over 19,000. By the same math, China would be approaching 500,000 cases (they are currently reporting a little under 150,000).
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