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posted by martyb on Saturday September 05 2020, @07:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the keep-your-distance-and-wear-your-mask dept.

Key coronavirus forecast predicts over 410,000 total U.S. deaths by Jan. 1: 'The worst is yet to come':

In June, IHME predicted that the death toll in the U.S. would reach 200,000 by October, which appears to be on track.

[...] IHME previously projected 317,697 deaths by Dec. 1. The model now predicts that the daily death toll could rise to nearly 3,000 per day in December, up from over 800 per day now, according to Hopkins data.

[...] The most likely [IHME] scenario estimates that Covid-19 will kill 410,450 people in the U.S. by Jan. 1. The worst-case scenario, which assumes that restrictions and mask directives will ease, projects up to 620,028 people in the U.S. will die by then and the best-case scenario, which assumes universal masking, predicts that 288,380 people in the U.S. will die from Covid-19 in 2020.

[...] Despite the drop in new cases, the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 everyday in the U.S. has remained high, at nearly 1,000 new deaths per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

[The 9/11 terrorist attacks caused 2,977 deaths; the current US COVID-19 fatality rate is like having two 9/11 attacks each week. --Ed.]


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday September 06 2020, @12:31AM (27 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday September 06 2020, @12:31AM (#1047038) Homepage Journal

    The death rate for people who contract coronaids is currently less than half of a tenth of a percent. There are 350ish million people in the US. My math says that even if we doubled the current fatality rate, we'd come in fifty thousand or so deaths short of 400K once every last person in the nation had either gotten over it or died from it.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by chr on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:14AM (6 children)

    by chr (4123) on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:14AM (#1047053)

    I thought the CDC had an estimate of 0.65% or so on a population level. That's close to estimates I've seen in other countries. At least the CDC used that value as their best estimate in this planning document [1] -- there could be a more recent best estimate of course.

    However, in my opinion it's pointless discussing IFR on a population level for this illness. The reason is the risk of dying is so dependent on e.g. the age of the infected, being e.g.:
    - less than 50: 0.05%
    - 50-64: 0.2%
    - above 64: 1.3%

    This means the number of dead will be very dependent on the age distribution of the population groups that get infected.

    If everybody in the United States were infected, we'd then see:
    - Below 15, About 61 M people, but maybe only 10 k deaths
    - In 15-49: About 148 M => 74 k deaths
    - In 50-64: About 62 M => 320 k deaths
    - Above 65: About 53 M => 689 k deaths:

    Basically, if the illness infects old people it gets really bad.

    [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html [cdc.gov]

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday September 06 2020, @02:56AM (5 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday September 06 2020, @02:56AM (#1047077) Homepage Journal

      Estimate schmestimate. That's not the fatality numbers we're seeing and we're not seeing even half the actual cases because they present with zero to somewhat annoying but by no means requiring a hospital symptoms.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:00AM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:00AM (#1047089)

        BULLSHIT.

        NYC has a ~0.2% COVID fatality rate PER CAPITA already. So, assuming every single fucking person in NYC has been infected (probably not true), you already have a number basically double the number you’re preaching... with more reasonable assumptions about NYC infection rate, the IFR is likely higher.

        Whatever, asshat. Keep drinking the fucking Koolaid... maybe the COVID genie won’t come your way if you fiddle with the numbers enough.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:30PM (3 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:30PM (#1047167) Journal

          NYC has a ~0.2% COVID fatality rate PER CAPITA already.

          How many of those COVID fatalities were due to COVID? There are three states with higher numbers of confirmed or likely covid cases than New York state yet none of the states are close to New York in fatalities. They all are about a factor of three lower fatality rate per reported cases. What's causing the discrepancy? I think it's overreporting of fatalities for COVID because otherwise you're left with the possibility that Texas and Florida do a better job of testing for covid than New York did.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 07 2020, @12:23AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 07 2020, @12:23AM (#1047346)

            Amazing how so many coders are really rotten at math.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 07 2020, @07:37PM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 07 2020, @07:37PM (#1047645) Journal
              You trying to say something?
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @03:28PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @03:28PM (#1047851)

            There's a fairly credible argument that it was due to New York's subway system. It is becoming evident that the severity of the illness is strongly correlated with the initial virus dose1. The confined and recirculated air in the train carriages resulted in much higher doses when someone infectious sneezed in the carriage. Similar death rates are seen in other areas that make extensive use of mass transit.

            1. It makes sense. If you get a tiny dose your immune system has more time to recognize and fight it before it builds up to a severe illness.

  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:19AM (7 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:19AM (#1047056) Journal

    Since we are obviously well on track for that 400,000, your figures for the death rate are obviously off.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday September 06 2020, @02:53AM (6 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday September 06 2020, @02:53AM (#1047075) Homepage Journal

      You remember that curve they talked about flattening? Well it goes down at the back side not up.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:49AM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:49AM (#1047100)

        Your mistake is that you assume we are on the backside. If the epidemiologists and virologists are to be believed instead of some random guy with strong, but baseless, opinions on the internet / his blowhard sources on Fox "News", it is more likely that we will see increases again as fall/winter arrives.

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/new-research-suggests-should-prepare-resurgence-covid-19-across/ [telegraph.co.uk]

        What difference does it make if we "shutdown the country" for a year or even two? We've spent tens of trillions killing brown people in decades of endless wars. How about we stop killing brown children so our rich parasite class can get even richer by stealing their country's natural resources, and divert a *fraction* of that money into keeping the population whole. The rich parasite class is making tons of money on this crisis. We could cancel the recent tax giveaways to the rich, and not even add to our national debt. Though adding to the debt in the present circumstances is exactly why we have that option available.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:52AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:52AM (#1047101)

          We've spent tens of trillions killing brown people in decades of endless wars. How about we stop killing brown children so our rich parasite class can get even richer by stealing their country's natural resources, and divert a *fraction* of that money into keeping the population whole.

          Killing "brown people" is horrible. Doing it to yourself is moronic.

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday September 06 2020, @06:48AM (2 children)

          by sjames (2882) on Sunday September 06 2020, @06:48AM (#1047127) Journal

          It seems that the same people who told us it will be a big nothing, well, over by April, OK Easter for sure, would you believe.....Memorial Day, etc. would now have us believe we're now for reals on the back of the curve, yes, fer sure this time!

          In the fine tradition of Carlin, I now place the tips of my index finger and thumb together and say "I BELIEVE them!"

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @09:50AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @09:50AM (#1047152)

            "Go hug a Chinese person!"
            "Masks don't work!"
            "Two weeks to flatten the curve!"
            "Your local hardware store needs to close, but Home Depot is cool to stay open!"
            "No Easter for you!"
            "Masks are required!"
            "Go out and protest!"

            So much believability! Let's not let them fuck up more of our lives.

            • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @08:20PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @08:20PM (#1047278)

              "Go hug a Chinese person!"
              = racist moron

              "Masks don't work!"
              = regular moron
              * cloth masks don't prevent infection but do drastically reduce infectious ability of carriers

              "Two weeks to flatten the curve!"
              * and? Curve flattened means hospitals don't get swamped, yes they had to soft sell the harsh reality of the pandemic. Got a problem with science bruuuuuh?

              "Your local hardware store needs to close, but Home Depot is cool to stay open!"
              = must live in a Republican state. Here in "commiefornia" my local hardware stores are open just fine with plastic shields for cashiers and mask requirements.

              "No Easter for you!"
              = complete fucking moron, since when does your religious bullshit require large groups of people? No faith I see....

              "Masks are required!"
              = no shit, tell the other morons

              "Go out and protest!"
              * Not a problem if people are wearing masks, if they crowd up that is an issue, but I sense you added this one as some lame attempt to call protesters hypocrites, as if only Democrats care about police brutality.

              Go soak your head you identity politics moron, be glad eugenics isn't approved by liberals or you'd be one of the first weeded out.

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 07 2020, @12:20PM

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 07 2020, @12:20PM (#1047535) Homepage Journal

          You know how I keep citing data every story or three about this bullshit? Yeah, not baseless then, are they?

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @05:41AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @05:41AM (#1047114)

    Your math is seriously flawed.

    The US population is around 328.2 million. We have about 175,000 COVID-19 deaths. If we assumed that every single person in the US had been infected, that would be a death rate of 0.0533%, which is already slightly above your 0.05% number.

    This, of course, assumes that everyone in the US has already been infected. That is false. In reality, serology tests suggest somewhere in the range of 15-20% of people have been infected. The US has a bit over six million confirmed cases. There is a common assumption that the confirmed cases account for about one in every ten infections, putting the real number of infections closer to 60 million. If we assume that roughly 20% of the US population has been infected, an assumption that is supported by multiple sources of data, the death rate actually comes in between 0.25% and 0.3%. The number could be a bit higher because not every death caused by COVID-19 is recorded as such, so it's probably better to go with the high end of 0.3%. This is a much more plausible estimate, one that is consistent with other published estimates and supported by multiple sources of data.

    Regardless, your math is seriously flawed.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:32PM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 06 2020, @01:32PM (#1047168) Journal

      serology tests suggest somewhere in the range of 15-20% of people have been exposed.

      It's not quite the same as infected.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:02PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:02PM (#1047193)

        Fair point, I meant to say they've been infected and didn't proofread my comment carefully enough. It happens.

        There are about six million confirmed infections in the US. If one in ten infections are detected, that means about 60 million infections. TMB's math is faulty and he's unreasonably downplaying the severity of this virus.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 07 2020, @12:23PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 07 2020, @12:23PM (#1047537) Homepage Journal

      Yeah, it would help if we stopped counting infected people who die in motorcycle crashes as coronaids deaths. We've already covered that repeatedly though, so keep believing your idiocy since you obviously have a mental firewall keeping out any data you dislike.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @07:04AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @07:04AM (#1047131)

    I hope TMB's math is half as good as his coding. But then, his coding has not been all that efficacious of late. Kind of like a Trump wall of coding? But, will let that slide.

    Native Americans, for some reason, Oh, for actually very well understood reasons (racism) are dying at much higher rates than the general population of the US. Does TMB really want is tribe to suffer the consequences of this "white man's disease"? Not like it is syphilis, passed from the Spanish. Or Smallpox, as was deliberately targeted at the Blackfeet. Or even influenza, that killed so many native Americans, even before they had contact with the Washita. Yes, Native Americans, like TMB's ancestors, achieved "herd immunity", after most of them were dead, their warriors depleted, and the Whites found them an easy conquest for their genocidal
    "Manifest Fuckery".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06 2020, @04:02PM (#1047192)

      It's not Trump's fault that inferior races can't survive a case of the sniffles.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 07 2020, @12:24PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 07 2020, @12:24PM (#1047538) Homepage Journal

      It's called melanin, dumbass. More melanin means less Vitamin D which means higher fatality rate. This is ancient news but then anything not supporting your beliefs you just ignore, eh?

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Sunday September 06 2020, @09:45PM (4 children)

    by choose another one (515) on Sunday September 06 2020, @09:45PM (#1047295)

    Maybe in the US, but in the UK we've got:

    41k dead from the "official" count (dead within 28 days of positive test)
    52k dead from the actually-bothering-to-look-at-cause-of-death count (from Office of National Statistics, takes time to do and is therefore some week out of date, so actual is more)
    60k+ dead if you look at excess deaths

    The large scale antibody testing shows that we've so far spread it to 6-7% of the population. The same type of tests show 60-70% infected in the worst hit areas of Italy by the way, so it isn't that people don't develop the antibodies, it's that it hasn't (yet) spread that badly here.

    UK pop ~67M, 6.5% of 67M = 4.3M infected.
    Using the most reliable (IMO) but also more out of date figure for deaths, the UK IFR is therefore 52000 / 4300000 = 1.2%

    Scratching my head slightly as to how you've got IFR < 0.05% from the same thing - it's >20 times more deadly in UK than US, really? I can't think why it would be, but I guess if it is it might explain the difference in response...

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 07 2020, @12:29PM (2 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday September 07 2020, @12:29PM (#1047539) Homepage Journal

      Dude, I have no idea about what's going on in GB but your government is even less answerable to its people than ours and we're provably cooking the numbers to make it seem worse than it is. Maybe they're cooking the books even harder because they're looking to engender a greater degree of the sheep trait in the populace than they already have or maybe nationalized healthcare is really that much worse.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @08:08AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @08:08AM (#1047760)

        The British got royally shafted. They switched to a conservative government to get brexit done, and that government then proceeded to imprison its citizens.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @08:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 08 2020, @08:02AM (#1047759)

      Your figures don't account for those that were infected but had no effects, or hid their infections from the government.