[cgbg]

Steve:

We are constantly hearing “this source is run by China” and “this source is run by Russia”.

If you have better sources of data, provide them.

But remember, if you don’t deeply understand the data, it is totally meaningless.

[cgbg]

I do want to be clear on what I mean by “deeply understand the data”.

We have learned (after working very hard and looking at a wide variety of sources) that death rates from CV are affected by the following:

—Amount of initial viral dose *
—Quality of health care available and provided
—Underlying health care conditions (long list which should include obesity)
—Age

*This is often a function of availability and quality of PPEs for health care workers and the general public

---

These are _not_ static indicators. For example, a health care system may be in excellent shape at the beginning of an outbreak but may collapse as the number of cases overwhelms the health care system.

Mitigation measures (such as masks) can lower the death rate as they are put in place.

So, when you measure death rates you are looking at apples, oranges, peaches and grapefruits....

[Steve Van Doorn]

said, "if you don’t deeply understand the data, it is totally meaningless. If you have better sources of data, provide them."
BINGO! We have a winner!

I can't find a source that isn't directed by China. What the heck is that about?
From getHub source which is Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering it says,

"Before manually updating the dashboard, we confirm the case numbers using regional and local health departments, namely the China CDC (CCDC)"

https://systems.jhu.edu/research/public-health/ncov/