[Vision2020] If transparency demanded of China, demand it of US as well

[Nicholas Gier]

Thanks, Tom, for posting my column.  I object to the title because the
focus is not on China. Editors certainly have the right to title their own
news reports, but they should respect their columnists' choices.
My title was "Coronavirus Deaths Undercounted by 60%: Sweden Embraces
Theirs, While Florida Hides Them.

Here is the most recent addition I've made to the long version (attached).
It has been sent to Pocatello's Idaho State Journal.

In early May Swedish epidemiologist Anders Tegnell found himself rethinking
his position.  Admitting that 3,000 virus deaths is a “horrifyingly large
number,” he admitted that he is “not convinced” the unconventional
anti-lockdown strategy was the best option to take. He also previously
assured Swedes that child and teen infections would be rare, but now, as
primary and secondary schools have not been closed, there are now 400 virus
cases in the 0-19 age range.

*Sweden’s Anti-Lockdown No Help to Economy*

One would think that Sweden’s anti-lockdown policy would help the economy,
but predictions do not support this view. The European Central Bank
calculates that Sweden will suffer a recession in the 6.9-9.7 percent
range, just where the rest of Europe is expected to be.

European workers will be much better off because of generous paycheck
protection programs, unemployment insurance, and sick leave. Primarily
because of the GOP tax cut, our budget deficit will be 44 percent higher
than the European average, as many countries in the EU entered the pandemic
era with budget surpluses, even Greece, surprisingly enough.

On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 5:21 AM Moscow Cares <moscowcares at moscow.com> wrote:

> 
>
> Courtesy of today’s (May 7, 2020) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with special
> thanks to Nick Gier.
>
>
> —————————————-
>
>
> If transparency demanded of China, demand it of US as well
>
>    - Nick Gier The Palouse Pundit
>
>
> In a White House briefing on April 18, President Donald Trump bragged
> about our low COVID-19 death rate compared to Western European nations.
> Trump pointed to Belgium, which has the highest virus deaths per 100,000
> citizens.
>
>
>
> Belgium, however, has joined France and the Netherlands in reporting virus
> deaths more accurately. Unlike other countries, they have counted
> “presumed” virus deaths that have occurred at home as well as in nursing
> facilities.
>
>
>
> In his column (April 29), Dale Courtney contends that we should have
> followed Sweden’s decision not to issue stay-at-home orders. He then lists
> the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Belgium as having
> higher virus death rates than the Swedes.
>
>
>
> Courtney’s method of calculating coronavirus fatalities is flawed. Even
> Swedish epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who has led his nation’s “light
> touch” response to the virus, admits that citing infection rates based on
> limited testing is “an unreliable measure.”
>
>
>
> Courtney has divided the number of reported deaths by the number of virus
> cases confirmed by testing. The problem with this is that Italy is testing
> three times more people than Sweden is, and Sweden is counting only the
> hospital deaths of patients who tested positive.
>
>
>
> Sweden finally banned visits to its nursing homes on April 3, after it
> realized that a third of its total virus fatalities (not counted in the
> national tally) were occurring there. Even so, the nursing home rules are
> lax: Staff are required to wear masks and gloves only if the resident is
> suspected of having the virus.
>
>
>
> The Belgium government has responded angrily to Trump’s reference to its
> virus death count, and one minister called it “level zero” politics. He
> claimed that Belgium’s “method of counting COVID-19 deaths is the most
> exhaustive possible.”
>
>
>
> Belgian nursing home deaths are 52 percent of the total, but only 4.5
> percent of these were confirmed virus fatalities and the rest are now
> reported as “suspected, based on symptoms.”
>
>
>
> In an analysis of excess deaths (those above normal mortality) in 14
> countries, London’s Financial Times concluded that the COVID-19 death toll
> may be 60 percent higher than reported. Its reporters found 122,000 excess
> deaths in these countries, but only 77,000 confirmed virus mortality. The
> most extreme disparity was found in one of Ecuador’s provinces: excess
> fatalities were 10,200 but COVID-19 deaths were only 245.
>
>
>
> Coronavirus deaths in New York City rose by 3,700 when probable as well as
> confirmed cases were added to the toll. In the early stages of the
> pandemic, as many as 195 patients a day, even though they showed symptoms
> of the virus, were turned away from overwhelmed city hospitals and many
> died at home.
>
>
>
> The Center for Disease Control is finally requiring states to count
> presumed as well as confirmed coronavirus cases, but officials there,
> consistent with the Trump administration’s fatal hands-off policy, are
> allowing the states to set their own criteria for this reporting.
>
>
>
> This means, as Debbie Koenig of WebMD reports, that “Alabama, for example,
> may continue to exclude patients who tested positive, if a doctor’s review
> determines they may have died from another cause. As of April 16, the state
> had 133 reported deaths with positive tests, but only 82 had been
> attributed to COVID-19.”
>
>
>
> In Florida there is a tug-of-war between state health officials and county
> medical examiners, who claim that the former are not reporting the
> coronavirus deaths they send them. One of the examiners, Dr. Stephen
> Nelson, said that state officials told him they plan to remove causes of
> death and case descriptions. Nelson complained: “Without that information,
> the list is meaningless.”
>
>
>
> In late April, Florida’s Congressional Democrats sent GOP Gov. Ron
> DeSantis a letter demanding an explanation for “inconsistencies between
> COVID-19 death tracking methods used by the Florida Department of Health
> and county medical examiners.” They have not yet received a reply.
>
>
>
> The Chinese government is now adjusting upwards the COVID-19 death toll in
> Wuhan, but residents are complaining that even more transparency is needed.
> If the Chinese can do it, then Florida’s health officials should do the
> same.
>
>
>
> Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. Read
> all his columns at http://nfgier.com.
>
>
> —————————————
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> “A stranger is just a friend you haven't met.” - Roy E. Stolworthy
>
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-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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