Mnementh on 14 March 2020
| Angelus said: I think we can look to South Korea for a more accurate representation of the real death rate of this virus. They've done incredibly broad testing on their population, and their mortality for it is around 0.6%. This, of course, is still magnitudes higher than the flu, but it's also far from the percentages we see thrown around in the media. |
There is another factor in there: how much the health system is overloaded. COVID-19 has around 20% extreme cases, which needs intensive care. If treated properly because enough resources (like breathing machines) are available, than the mortality rate can be low. If the health system is run over by cases the mortality spikes. In countries like Italy and in Wuhan we see up to 5% mortality (other regions of China also had around 0.5%-0.7% mortality).
Another problem is long term effects. There is indication that more serious cases leave permanent damage to the lungs.
Essay Pro