Absolutely agree.
When I heard that I thought, toilet paper???
I probably have two weeks worth of old socks.
Seriously though, perfect info.
One part that kinda sucks is we really don't know how many are infected.
We know how many have been tested and how many of those died and those are the number we are going by.
When the virus infection count almost doubles in one day we can pretty much tell the virus is moving faster than we are.
Exactly. The published numbers are just cases we know about. Those numbers will get more accurate as time goes on, but especially in the "growth" phase the numbers lag behind. One of the early cases here in California was a "community spread" case. I think there were only 3 or 4 cases here at the time and the person had no contact with any known infected person and hadn't traveled. Meaning even at that point, when everyone known to have it here was being quarantined, there were already infected people out in the community that weren't known to the CDC.
As things go along the numbers will get somewhat more accurate. People that seek treatment and meet the criteria will get tested, deaths from respiratory illnesses will all get tested for the most part, so after all this is over we'll end up better numbers which will help next time around. But none of those numbers are ever 100%, just like for the flu. Most people experience covid-19 as a bad cold or moderate flu. So you know there are plenty of mild cases that won't be tested/diagnosed because the person will just assume they have a nasty cold. In comparison to the flu you can probably expect a similar number of unreported cases, so overall you can compare infection rates and mortality rates in retrospect.
Here's a great article on the ongoing outbreak, info on "the numbers" and where they come from (and why they aren't ever perfect). It's a LONG read, but has the latest up to date information compiled from accurate sources.
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
Johns Hopkins University has an interactive map/tracker, as well as more info
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
