The case of India

[Aurel]

COVID-19 has been around for a while now, and India has only 49,000 cases and 1,600 deaths. Despite having much higher population density, lower health system and hygiene than the US. So why such low numbers?

Could it be because they don’t have $39,000 to give hospitals for each COVID-19 case diagnosed? Or could it be because they don’t have deep state that wants to ruin their economy? just askin...

[URY914]

Could be they don't have a reliable system to diagnose and report cases.

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by URY914

Could be they don't have a reliable system to diagnose and report cases.

That would not explain the low deaths, those are easy to diagnose. And they are pretty good with internet as far as I know.

[tadd]

A:
I don't think they have a ton of PCR machines lying around like we do. Maybe in the wealthy cities. But I highly doubt it everywhere else.

My old BD manager was Indian. Married to my old boss. They met while he was over here for grad school. He used to visit home, but never wanted to go back and he was Braham (sp?).

Said it always shocked him getting off the plan and out of the airport how poor the country is.

[Chocaholic]

Aurel...why do you believe that data? There’s likely very little testing and deaths reported as pneumonia or similar.

We sheep are not provided real or reliable information...we know that already.

[Aurel]

For comparison, Massachusetts alone has more cases and more deaths than India.
Actually, pretty soon will pass China. Even without PCR machines, India should see a noticeable uptick in deaths if they had more COVID-19 cases than diagnosed.

Massachusetts
Total Cases
69,645
Total Deaths
4,204

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

Aurel...why do you believe that data? There’s likely very little testing and deaths reported as pneumonia or similar.

We sheep are not provided real or reliable information...we know that already.

Yeah, when I compare China or India numbers to US numbers, something does not add up.

The question is, are India-China numbers way underestimated, or US numbers overestimated? We don’t really know do we?

[Aurel]

Actually, weekly death rates in India are lower since coronavirus. They say it is because of less car accidents due to lockdown.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-casualties/mortality-rates-drop-sharply-in-parts-of-india-bucking-coronavirus-trend-idUSKCN2260WM

[mgatepi]

Or has the US been exposed to a mutated strain of the Virus? A strain that is much more deadly? I read an article in the LA Times that was making a comparison to the strain that hit Italy. If I can find it I will post it.

[mgatepi]

Here is the article;


https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB13COF3?m=en-us&ocid=News

[tdw28210]

Speaking of India. Looks like they have Chinese plants in their sights:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/news/india-pledges-easy-access-to-land-for-factories-leaving-china/ar-BB13zrMa

[stealthn]

Probably the lack of travel in and out of the country.

[HardDrive]

My wife is Indian, I travel to India typically once a year.

Long list of factors.

Most of the Indian population is in rural areas, 100% there is less testing going on there.

Because most life is rural, people don't go to high density grocery stores with oceans of plastic packaging around.

Lets face it, India is filthy. Even big cities are pretty dirty. But the upshot of that is that Indias are used to living with disease all around. They take their shoes off outside their homes. They wash their hands constantly.

Base on what I have said above, one has to wonder about increased herd immunity of the Indian population.

Lastly, Indians are very family oriented. Its not uncommon for people to hang out only with their family, or their cousins. Less external socialization means fewer vectors to the disease to spread.

[wilnj]

Caning people who didn't comply with stay-at-home orders probably didn't hurt either.

[legion]

India also has a much younger population, in comparison to Italy and Spain. The US is between those two extremes.

[Otter74]

Well, for one, the entire country was under a very, very tight lockdown - initially you couldn't leave your home for any reason - until a few days ago. Deaths are rising accordingly.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by wilnj

Caning people who didn't comply with stay-at-home orders probably didn't hurt either.

If one member of the family (which all shares genetic vulnerability) brings home the virus...
Wouldn't being locked in the house (for weeks on end) be the perfect setting for spreading it to the rest of the group...?

[vash]

i read somewhere that India has an awesome Public Health Department. Public Health nurses all over the place, educating and offering aid.

i cant imagine how they find people. the homes look like a mud swallow coloney. jammed in there!! it is an amazing program if they can keep it all straight. they should be proud.

[Embraer]

I was vacationing in India for 2 weeks back in March, right at the beginning of all of this. Some observations:

The actual public healthcare system is pretty bad. A large portion of people rely on ayurvedic health.

Harddrive is 100% on what he says.

I was traveling with local historians/professors and the topic of all this was quite a bit of the discussion. The rural aspect/inherent social distancing helps. I celebrated Holi in a rural village in Rajasthan, and I wasn't worried at all.

As for the numbers with, a larger portion of deaths in general, than were used to , go unreported to the system. ...so the numbers might not tell the whole story. A population of over a billion, with the general sanitary conditions makes me question their numbers.

That being said, they were very proactive about washing hands, sanitizing. Not just with my group, but while alone, before I went into any store or restaurant, they had an attendant at the door who sanitized your hands before walking in, and while walking out. I went to see a movie in Jaipur, and they literally took the temperature of everybody before you could get in.

[RWebb]

Lockdown city

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52544054