[akiddoc]

There was a thread where I was getting some flak for suggesting China's numbers are the product of its propaganda machine. I have no idea how accurate these claims are. They come from someone who is a Hong Kong activist of some sort, but these are the reasons I use to justify my belief China has been less than transparent. I do think scientists make an effort to share accurate information with each other when it comes to specifics about the virus, but the public health numbers leave a lot of room to be skeptical, IMO.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1244098907715407873[/tweet]

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Oh, and look at this:

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/w...82846.html

Regarding the funeral urns...one could argue that they're not all for Covid19. =/

Then again, that's a ton of urns, and rumors about rejecting sick people to keep the count down have been going on since the outbreak blew up back in January.  That, along with not testing post mortem (patient would die of say pneumonia, and then be cremated immediately without a test to see if Covid19 caused it, for example) were two of the big ones floating around back in Jan/Feb.

The Chinese numbers may not be accurate, but RFA is not a trustworthy source of information. 
Here in the USA, we (as in doctors) are telling most patients that they do not need to be tested. Better to stay at home when you are not terribly sick and sit it out. Our numbers are going to be terribly inaccurate as well. 
After everything dies down and we have a good test to look at antibody titers, epidemiologists will be able to look at the prevalence of the disease with more accuracy. 
For children, we are not testing much at all. I am telling people to assume it could be Covid 19 if the symptoms are consistent with the diagnosis. Hydrate, use Tylenol to control the fever, stay at home, and self isolate. If there is a household member who is working, we bring the kid in and swab them. If they are short of breath we see them or send them to the ER. We generally test those kids. If the kid has had a fever for 5 days or more we see them and get a chest X-ray and test them. We haven't seen many at either of my jobs who really would benefit from testing. Testing capacity is not unlimited and more likely of use in the adult population.

[akiddoc]

There was a thread where I was getting some flak for suggesting China's numbers are the product of its propaganda machine. I have no idea how accurate these claims are. They come from someone who is a Hong Kong activist of some sort, but these are the reasons I use to justify my belief China has been less than transparent. I do think scientists make an effort to share accurate information with each other when it comes to specifics about the virus, but the public health numbers leave a lot of room to be skeptical, IMO.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1244098907715407873[/tweet]

---

Oh, and look at this:

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/w...82846.html

Regarding the funeral urns...one could argue that they're not all for Covid19. =/

Then again, that's a ton of urns, and rumors about rejecting sick people to keep the count down have been going on since the outbreak blew up back in January.  That, along with not testing post mortem (patient would die of say pneumonia, and then be cremated immediately without a test to see if Covid19 caused it, for example) were two of the big ones floating around back in Jan/Feb.

The Chinese numbers may not be accurate, but RFA is not a trustworthy source of information. 
Here in the USA, we (as in doctors) are telling most patients that they do not need to be tested. Better to stay at home when you are not terribly sick and sit it out. Our numbers are going to be terribly inaccurate as well. 
After everything dies down and we have a good test to look at antibody titers, epidemiologists will be able to look at the prevalence of the disease with more accuracy. 
For children, we are not testing much at all. I am telling people to assume it could be Covid 19 if the symptoms are consistent with the diagnosis. Hydrate, use Tylenol to control the fever, stay at home, and self isolate. If there is a household member who is working, we bring the kid in and swab them. If they are short of breath we see them or send them to the ER. We generally test those kids. If the kid has had a fever for 5 days or more we see them and get a chest X-ray and test them. We haven't seen many at either of my jobs who really would benefit from testing. Testing capacity is not unlimited and more likely of use in the adult population.