Lokasenna
Posts: 9297
Joined: 3/3/2012 From: Iowan in MD/DC Status: offline
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ORIGINAL: obvert A very interesting article, and something I mentioned very early on, when those first two cases showed up. No testing, who knows how many cases, and odd isn't that people leaving Indonesia seem to have contracted it there? quote:
ORIGINAL: Ian R But perhaps Niall should stick to history, and not dabble in mathematics. quote:
Professor Niall Ferguson from Imperial College in London agrees that one death corresponds to at least 1,000 cases in the community, assuming a death rate of about 1 per cent. In above link. Ahhh, the joys of choosing soundbites out of context. I'm pretty sure basic maths is in his sphere of knowledge. Professor Niall Ferguson from Imperial College in London agrees that one death corresponds to at least 1,000 cases in the community, assuming a death rate of about 1 per cent. But he believes the spread of coronavirus may be doubling even more quickly. "We think epidemics in the absence of control measures … probably double every five days or so. And only about one in 100 people infected die," Professor Ferguson said. "The deaths we see today take 20 days or so from when you develop symptoms to when they die. So the deaths we see today correspond to the epidemic 20 days ago. "And that gives you … the epidemic must have been about 10 times smaller then. You multiply that by a factor of 100 in cases to death. And you get about a 1,000-fold multiplier." In fact, a lower death rate — of say 0.5, which some scientists support — would indicate an even higher number of cases in the community, because statistically it would mean one death per 200 cases instead of one in every 100. And adding on fro the article on India (thanks Ian R, very interesting read). Over the past two decades, Professor Reddy listed a range of diseases as having "knocked at the door" of India, including H1N1 (swine flu), H5N1 (bird flu) and SARS. Swine flu in particular has been difficult to eradicate, and so far at least 28 people have died from the infection this year, compared to only three confirmed deaths from COVID-19. The experience has reinforced the view in India that harsh responses might come at an economic cost, but they're worth it. "The economic cost of letting it run through the country like a blazing fire is much higher," Professor Reddy said. So we may see two countries with similar demographics battle this in very different ways. The last sentence makes me fear the impact of Indonesia's response so far. But he still flubbed the basic math! If it doubles every ~5 days, then 20 days is a factor of 2^4, which is 16, not 10! (What is the rate of doubling, anyway?) I'll agree that Niall is a credentialed historian, but this isn't really his area of expertise.
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