Keeping the toll of Covid-19 deaths artificially low makes it easier for Trump to push for a premature end to the lockdown.
The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be approaching the peak of its first wave in the United States, and the scale of the human tragedy is staggering. As of Sunday night, there were 22,115 confirmed deaths, the most of any country in the world. In New York alone, there were 9,385 confirmed deaths.
But these numbers, often accompanied in media accounts by confident charts, create a false impression of certainty. Few if any countries in the world are testing for Covid-19 in a way that would capture every infected person. Both China and Iran have been accused of undercounting.
This is a fast-spreading disease. Some of the undercounting is due to the fact that there are currently only sufficient resources to test those who have a credible need for medical attention. This makes it easier for some governments to implement testing slowly and selectively to keep the death count low…
To read the entire article from The Nation, click https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/undercounting-coronavirus-death-count/
