Hacker News Reader

According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ , among US closed cases, 8% of people who test positive for Covid-19 die.

(BIG CLUE: Use closed cases for estimating mortality of an illness.)

View on HN

Is that not heavily distorted by how tests are distributed, as not everyone ends up getting tested?

Also, it's kind of a self-selecting population. This statistic is likely skewed towards those with an infection bad enough to warrant getting a test in the first place.

LOL, if Covid had an 8% death rate, do you really think politicians would still be walking around? No, they'd all be boarding submarines!

The CDC's most recent estimate is more like 0.65% and that's probably still an overestimate

Reply on news.ycombinator.com