I've discovered case numbers are actually pretty darn accurate. And only lag about 4 days from actual time someone acquired the virus.
Below are two charts where I have offset the case date by 14 days forward to sync with fatalities. Top chart is for the US, bottom is Italy's numbers. We're twice as worse off as Italy, but Italy is ahead of us in dealing with CV by about two weeks. It's worrisome to me how our numbers seemed to have plateaued. Look how closely case numbers and fatality numbers track - especially in Italy's case. Mismatch in ending US deaths may be due to NY again dumping nursing home deaths into the bucket. Otherwise, US numbers may have tracked as well as Italy's.
Case numbers are a good indicator of how we're doing. Fatality numbers are an even better indicator, and the fastest indicator of effective treatments and cures.
But case numbers depend on testing.
That’s why I’m looking for positivity rates to, soon, be reliable indicators.