The world health organization now estimates that there have been 750 million cases..with just over million deaths...that puts the fatality rate At 0.1%. Same as the flu. What the f*** are we doing? In nearly every hotspot cases have subsided regardless of masks policy, regardless of lockdown measures, without vaccines and irrespective of testing and tracing levels ...excess death has ultimately only significantly occurred only in areas where and when care homes protocols failed or where lockdowns have increased deaths unattributable to COVID19. in the Usa they are back to expected or below expected death threshold.. CDC is recording considerable less pneumonia deaths then average For this time of the year because - surprise - COVID has sadly taken those that would unfortunately likely succumb anyway... 94% of COVID deaths in the usa, That occurred had on average 2.5 other severe co-Morbidities According to the cdc...that 6% is roughly the same as swine flu deaths back in 2009... possibly in other words back then They didn t scour death certificates or incentivize hospitals to tally up and attribute deaths to the disease. Part of reason for this is that h1n1 disproportionally affected the young...no one was really looking at what old people were dying of...or what role viruses played...in 2005 just 1200 death certificates mentioned flu...clearly more people died of it then...but ultimately old age and the collapse of bodily function was expected and normal...the other reason there wasn’t high numbers was that information technology was not attuned to consolidate data at the same rate it is now but fast Forward 15 years we now have an entire industry dedicated to testing and reporting and the attention of the media announcing everyday changes...all this to say the world seems to be not caught in a new viral pandemic but rather one of novel perspective. This is as dangerous.

Actually, there already have been some 35,240,000 diagnosed reported cases of the Covid-19 virus. The number of reported deaths attributed to the virus stands at some 1,039,000. This puts the death rate at some 3%. (Granted the figures may not be fully accurate, as in some countries they may be unreported or reported incorrectly - nevertheless, they are indicative of the seriousness of this pandemic). Despite all the health precautions being taken and the restrictions on economic and social activity - followed by many people - the virus has spread and its dangers should not be minimized. True many who have passed away are elderly. However, they should not be viewed as expendable - as they are the ones who built our countries and worked their entire lives to make their countries and societies a better place for the younger generation. International figures show that in the countries where people have taken the precautions very serious, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the death rates are much much lower than in those places where people have been lax, such as the USA. So, please continue to take all necessary heath and safety precautions.

“ An estimated 750 million, or 10 per cent of the world’s population, have been infected by Covid-19, World Health Organisation (WHO) official Dr Mike Ryan has said.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irisht…

Your numbers are very, very wrong. Get the facts first before you offer an opinion. Thanks.

Are u refuting The article?

Not my numbers please ask mr Ryan Of the who ;)

For figures and information about the Covid-19 virus, please see the following site: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir…. These figures provide valuable information about reported infection rates, death rates as well as deaths per million population,

Well versed on all of these (ourworldindate.org, covidtracker, John Hopkins etc) @Roman they don't take into consideration unreported untested cases. It's well established that 40% - 70% of the those infected are without symptoms which is why Mr Ryan is producing a figure that is essentially 20 times the reported level of cases. Even within the US most serological studies have revealed that prevalence is many times (10x -24x) the recorded case count. And that is why every dashboard is way way way off in terms of under reporting the number of cases, while in converse the number of reported deaths is likely over stated given that the vast majority of the underlying conditions may contribute more to death than the disease it self. As result mortality in COVID tends towards natural mortality rates. As in if you're so sick to die likely to day with 6 months or less, COVID is a nail in the coffin, or bullet in chamber but not the gun...In assessing the impact of policy we should be considering the bigger picture. COVID isn't killer, it's 99.9% of people it infects survive...thats not worth destroying society over.

Please see the figures of reported infection rates, death rates and deaths per million of population. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir…. They provide valuable information and make international comparisons. These figures are widely trusted internationally.

WHO estimate ‘ 10 per cent as “our best guess” in relation to the global rate of infection to date and those who have antibodies for the virus. Quoting mr Ryan in article attached above in the irish times ...that’s the reality from the guys supposedly leading the fight folks...and based on death count that puts IFR at 0.13%..or about the same as the flu...

Please stop comparing COVID to 'The Flu'. About the only thing they have in common are their symptoms.
Remember COVID is a specific virus (SARS-CoV-2), whereas 'The Flu' (as we all like to call it), is a general term given to many different types & strains of Influenza viruses that can be present during 'flu season' (which incidentally is at different times of the year depending on which hemisphere you live in).
There are 4 types of influenza viruses, with types A & B being the most common in humans, and Type A being primarily responsible for our 'Flu Season'. Influenza A has approximately 30 sub-types, of which H1N1 is a single sub-type. Most of the time, there are several of the numerous identified flu strains circulating the globe at any one time. Once in a while a new strain will appear (like H1N1 in 2009).

So, you cannot compare COVID with 'the flu'. You are better off comparing COVID with H1N1 as both are specific viruses. Think of 'the flu' as being akin to the word 'Cheese'. You may have 'cheese' in your fridge, but it could be Cheddar, Swiss, Gouda, Parmesan, or any number of other types of 'cheese'. And, in that analogy COVID would be a head of Romaine Lettuce, since it's not a type of cheese :)

I'm not sure I understand your point - The only thing that is being compared is the Infection fatality rate, given the fact that The WHO director as reported that there has been an estimated 750 Million cases to date. I think everybody understands that there is difference between respiratory viruses but to further your food analogy the point is that we are talking about a similar group of infectious diseases that make people sick. So whether you're eating shellfish or tofu we're talking about the impact on people that consume it and ultimately weighting the risk and thus threshold of economic and social sacrifice justified by the prevention measures. As it stands the the data is all correlating to the fact that the risk presented by COVID19 has been conflated and possibly exaggerated when in fact it is potentially similar or in the range of severe influenza. Therefore the destruction of our economy, keeping our kids out of school, quarantining our visitors, universal mask mandates and banning beaches is overkill for something that is on average 99.9% harmless. Back to you analogy - Shellfish (like COVID and the flu) makes some (very few) people very very sick, thus safety measures like advertising when it's an used to prepare a meal or taking personal responsibility (if you have an allergy) to avoid seafood restaurants makes sense ...universally banning shellfish because 0.01% of people might die from it does not.

I guess I wasn't clear enough on what I was trying to put across in my analogy. My point is with people comparing COVID (a specific single virus strain) to The Flu (multiple different virus strains). You have to compare COVID mortality rates to a single specific Influenza virus strain. When people compare COVID deaths to flu deaths they are comparing COVID to MULTIPLE Influenza viruses, because their are MULTIPLE different influenza viruses circulating at any one time. You need to compare COVID statistics with a SINGLE specific virus, such as H1N1 or even Chickenpox.

BTW Prior to the Chickenpox vaccine there were several million people infected every year, but only 100 or so deaths, does that mean we shouldn't have bothered coming up with a vaccine ?

Yes, 'the flu' results in numerous deaths from complications each year, but only because it's a moving target trying to guess which strains of Influenza A & B will be circulating during Flu season each year, which makes it almost impossible to develop a mixture of specific flu vaccines in our annual flu vaccine (the annual flu vaccine is a mixture of flu vaccines). I think most people would agree that it would be a good thing, if a flu vaccine could be developed, that successfully vaccinated a person against ALL types and sub-types of the common influenza viruses. Employers for one would be happy, given how much employee work time is lost each year to 'The Flu'.

So ok I think I get where you are coming from, but in response I would say that there are certainly several strains of covid circling the globe..The trajectory of the virus has been vast and varied as such there is speculation that we are now dealing with a weaker strain. When speaking of the burden of influenza the press refer to (more generally) the FLU though they might identify that a particular strain is more virulent in particular year. That is all academic and ultimately beside the point.

We 're talking about respiratory virus and a disease that is ultimately mild but the response to which has produced an economic decline like never seen before; a response which has stripped back individual freedom like never before; a response that has caused death through delay in treatments or failure to diagnosis, through sucide, drug abuse and crime in response to ultimately novel psychosis that is hard to adjust to in this period of history; a response that is not rooted science per se but rather in a change of perspective on how we evaluate and count death, given the technologic development of media...because of this point the development of a vaccine will never be a solution. We have fundamentally altered the way in which we measure death through the lens of COVID19.

Let's face it the flu vaccine is ultimately only mildly effective - In the U.S., for example, so far this season a million or so some specimens have been tested and roughly 20% have tested positive for influenza a or b at the peak of flu season. 80% other specimens have something else going on to reproduce ILI..whats more - probably only about half the population are interested in taking vaccines. The war on viruses is one that is never going to win (it's about as opaque as a war on terror), but the human body once good health is maintained is well designed to deal with it...the majority of COVID responses have thrown the baby out with the bath water and wrecked havoc on our society and should be questioned - that is the point I hope to make.

The increasing number on the ground Abacoians** expressing so many going untested fears** it has done skirted beyond the official 145 **official** counter, hasn't even begun scratch surface of the **unknown positives souls strolling about on various chain islands ** - bypassing 200 counts?

Absolutely at least by a factor of 10...if not more...small surprise the world health organization is estimating a much larger magnitude of infection ...

To: Whogothere Please see the figures of reported infection rates, death rates and deaths per million of population. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavir…. They provide valuable information and make international comparisons. These figures are widely trusted internationally.

To Roman: Well versed on all of these (ourworldindate.org, covidtracker, John Hopkins etc) they don't take into consideration unreported untested cases. It's well established that 40% - 70% of the those infected are without symptoms which is why Mr Ryan is producing a figure that is essentially 20 times the reported level of cases. Even within the US most serological studies have revealed that prevalence is many times (10x -24x) the recorded case count. And that is why every dashboard is way way way off in terms of under reporting the number of cases, while in converse the number of reported deaths is likely over stated given that the vast majority of the underlying conditions may contribute more to death than the disease it self. As result mortality in COVID trends towards natural mortality rates. As in if you're so sick and likely to die with 6 months or less, COVID is a nail in the coffin, or the bullet but not the gun or person that pulled the trigger...In assessing the impact of policy we should be considering the bigger picture. COVID isn't a killer, basically the statistics are trading towards the fact that 99.9% of people it infects survive...thats not worth destroying society over.

I almost can't believe this. Weeks ago I commented that I couldn't figure out why the data was so bad. I recall commenting that I'm assuming that the govt has to give authorization to labs to carry out testing given the national security concerns associated with possibly mishandling positive cases. This did not imply that a lab coukd not make a mistake, but more so that they'd been given guidance to prevent or minimize mistakes.

And today the PM announced they're establishing rules for test labs????? After 96 people have died?

This is unbelievable. I would have never thought in a million years labs could willy nilly decide they could conduct COVID testing much less do it with no standardized rules established.

Where is cabinet??? Where is Parliament??? Busy cutting down trees on the coastline so people dont have shade to relax and making nonsense rules to tell us we can't park and sit in our cars at the beach. All while the covid labs get patient zero roaming free

To Whogothere: I agree that the statistics may not be fully accurate - yet, they are the best indicator that we have. A lot about the Covid-19 virus is still unknown, for example what amount of exposure to the virus is necessary to trigger a serious level of infection in an individual as well as whether individuals can be reinfected once they were infected. I believe that we need to turn to international comparative figures. Those figures show that some countries have done a lot better than others. I have particularly in mind, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. We should learn from best practices and emulate their approach to dealing with the pandemic. It is also noteworthy that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have a very disciplined population that is willing to follow government regulations which are based on professional scientific and medical advice.

The statistics are woefully off...seroprevalence and antibodies are really the only chance of seeing whats going on...asymptomatic cases could be anywhere between 40-70%...the reality is that we’re using a magnifying glass to look for the elephant in the room - which is the infection fatality rate is not the 1% Fauci and CDC first came out with - it’s problably around 0.1% - 0.2% or 5 to 10 times less. Respectfully we can’t follow the lead of other countries because the Bahamas is unique...geographically, economically, technologically, socially and physiologically...so what works in other countries won’t work here but has happened irrespective of strategy is that the Deaths seem to follow a similar epidemiological curves...increase and then decrease..second waves have been cases not deaths and driven and by who is tested and ultimately the specificity of the test. For example the NFL have devised there own testing measures because they discovered that many of there cases in their players were picking up viral fragments and were utterly in contagious...unfortunately there has been nothing scientific about the responses of the majority of nations...if they were they have followed the science that masks are about as useful as teddy bear against an airborne virus, quarantines don’t really impact mortality rates, lockdowns cause more deaths than they save and well COVID is for the vast vast majority of people a mild disease many of whom have no idea they ever had it..