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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Beleriphon" data-source="post: 7939033" data-attributes="member: 27847">SARS had a mortality rate of over 10%. MERS had a mortality rate of 34%.As of right now we don't know what the actual mortality rate in the general populace is, in part because we can't test enough people. Even in the US having at last check something like 200,000 test kits being made available doesn't help, since two kits are used per person to confirm, and only a limited number can be processed per day. So, we are unlikely to have anything approaching an accurate value.Here's a good source on what to look for in media reports to be able to determine if it is accurately reporting information, or what kind of information you want to look out for:[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.propublica.org/article/i-lived-through-sars-and-reported-on-ebola-these-are-the-questions-we-should-be-asking-about-coronavirus[/URL]As of right now 3.4% mortality rate is among confirmed cases, the actual value could be much, much lower since many more people could be asymptomatic (which is a real problem), or simply not have particularly serious symptoms and never get tested.As for the R0 that is a moving target, just like the mortality rate. It is probably more accurate than the mortality rate at the moment, but again it is in flux and will more than likely change.Just a data point for consideration: the US mortality rate for influenza and pneumonia last year was 6.9%.South Korea for example is reporting that the mortality rate is around 0.6%, that is based on 1100 per million residents. Compare that value to the US which is reporting 3.4% mortality, but has administered 7 tests per million residents.I actually don't think it is distrust, at least not for me. I trust the media to be report what they have accurately, but the problem is they often don't ask the right questions to get reliable and reasonable information. And that comes down to not knowing what to ask, or why to ask certain questions.That seems like a pretty good reason right there. If you're at risk, don't put yourself at risk. If you aren't at risk, and aren't like to spread the virus to others at risk, it probably isn't worth disrupting your life over.</blockquote>

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