Fear! - What's Missing In U.S. Coronavirus Statistics

LABELLE, FL. -- Fear and resulting anxiety is upon the nation and world as COVID-19 infections grow at exponential rates daily.

As of today nearly 117,000 confirmed worldwide with the virus with wildly varying rates among the 117 countries and regions affected. It's no wonder that fear is growing as individuals and families try to guess what will be the news tomorrow in their state or country.

A look at supposed "rates" of infection per thousand people will show why some of the confusion and anxiety is understandable.

Country	Population	Confirmed Cases	1 in X Infected
China	1,300,000,000	80,756	16,098
U.S.	329,000,000	756	435,185
Japan	127,000,000	530	239,623
Germany	82,000,000	1,151	71,242
Iran	81,000,000	8,042	10,072
France	66,000,000	1,412	46,742
United Kingdom	67,800,000	321	211,215
Italy	60,500,000	9,172	6,596
South Korea	51,300,000	7,513	6,828
Spain	45,000,000	1,547	29,089
Netherlands	17,100,000	382	44,764
Israel	8,600,000	58	148,276
Switzerland	8,000,000	374	21,390
Florida, USA	21,000,000	18	1,166,667
Wuhan, China	1,000,000	67,743	15
Ohio, USA	12,000,000	3	4,000,000
World 3/10/20	7,500,000,000	116,558	64,346

The worst case scenario seems to be Wuhan, in central China where 1 in 15 people were confirmed with the virus. At the top of the chart, Mainland China had 1 in 16,908 infected. 

On the other hand the least likely place to be infected, at least with today's statistics seems to be the U.S. where about 756 people out of a population of 329 million have it so far, or 1 in 435,185 people.

But here lies the public health problem and transparency lack. Testing is lacking in the U.S. and other countries. The United States so far has only tested about 1,707 people or about 5 tests per million people, that is, 1 test for every 200,000 people due to the lack of tests and the onerous requirement that a doctor has to order a test. You can't just drop in to the health department and get tested or even demand a test from a doctor.

On the other hand in Guandong, China about 320,000 tests have been given or 3,692 per million people, that is, 3.7 tests for every 1,000 people. Quite a difference is testing rates compared to the U.S.

Japan, the U.K., and Israel also have a similar statistics problem, misleading from the extremely low rates of testing, just like the U.S., and show very low rates or infection. 

Conversely, South Korea might have what might be more realistic rates of infection, having tested 3.7 people per 1,000 of it's population. Even though Italy has not matched that rate of testing yet, they have reached a rate of about .8 per thousand, that, is 826 test per million people.

For further examples of how nations have fallen behind in testing their citizens see this chart published by Dr. David Agus, one of the world's leading doctors and pioneering biomedical researchers, and consultant for CBS news.

COVID-19 Testing Per Capita