Counting the COVID-19 Costs

For John, BLUF:  We get a lot of comparisons of Coronavirus cases, deaths and recoveries, but it turns out not everyone counts the same way.  And that isn't even considering the dodgy numbers out of China, or elsewhere.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Europe Wasn’t Ready for Coronavirus.  It May Never Fully Recover.

From The National Review, by Spanish Journalist Itxu Díaz, 27 March 2020.

Well down in the article we have this:

We now know that neither Germany nor France is counting the deaths from coronavirus that occur outside of hospitals, and that the Germans don’t call it “death from coronavirus” if the patient had a previous illness.

And what about people in nursing homes?  Are they a Coronavirus death, or not?

So, we bandy around Statistics about the Coronavirus, but if we don't know what they are really measuring, what value are they?

While I have picked out this one item to whinge about, the total article is also very Interest.

Regards  —  Cliff