Bali and COVID19 – an involuntary experiment in epidemiology and immunology

I talk to many people in Bali on a daily basis and I don't agree with any of the armchair virology in this post. Certainly the actions taken by the government there do not support the assessment either. Starting April 24 to July 1 they are prohibiting travel outside the city (Denpasar).

I don't think what you have is an island of super healthy people and Americans/Europeans lands of weak people. What you have is an island of people who do not flood their doctors and hospitals (of which not many exist an no where near Western standards) for sickness. Those that are bad enough to go there's lack of testing and therefore a small amount of confirmed cases.

In America and Europe you have a population trained to engage healthcare services early and often. Almost as if we're nations of hypochondriacs. Healthcare services also always assume the worst case as well. Any respiratory distress is assumed covid19 until proven otherwise. With the known false negatives in the test it's still assumed covid19 based on symptoms. Unattributed respiratory issues at time of death are being flagged as covid19 related by order of the CDC.

What you're seeing a culture difference in both the people and governments. My friends son in Bali was experiencing respiratory issues and was taken to the hospital. Was put on breathing assistance but no test was done. They were released and it was listed as not covid19 but all the symptoms were there. In America or Europe it would have been classified different.