This news is just more of that "no shit sherlock" kind of stuff.Stating the obvious. A topic that's been discussed repeatedly here. And will be broached again in upcoming posts with a reference back to this one!Stop damaging your own health and well being. Mind, body and soul.End the panic. Get out of fear. Spread some love and joy! Smile. Researchers at a Montreal university are estimating that the prevalence of the COVID-19 virus in Canada is much higher than what is being reported.
In Ontario and Quebec alone, economists at l’Université de Montréal (UdeM) are saying nearly half a million people have the virus – which is about 14 times higher than the official number.
The researchers say differences in testing across different provinces have added to uncertainty surrounding the true number of cases in the country. Quebec had nearly 9,000 more cases than Ontario on April 22, but the researchers pointed out that Quebec has been much more aggressive with its testing. Do the differences in confirmed cases reflect the true prevalence or do they result from differing testing standards?” said UdeM economist Joshua Lewis, who worked on the analysis with an UdeM colleague, Raphael Godefroy, and David Benatia from the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. The trio used a statistical technique to calculate what they say is a more accurate number of cases in the central provinces by adapting a study they used to analyze the prevalence of COVID-19 in the United States.
They found that on April 22, infection numbers in Quebec were just over 255,000 – 12 times more than what was being reported by officials at the time; and over 220,000 in Ontario – 18 times as many.
Those numbers are in spite of the "lock downs" which began in March here in Ontario
“The actual number of infections in Quebec and Ontario is remarkably similar despite Quebec having nearly twice as many officially reported cases.” The researchers said public health needs timely, accurate data to adjust its response accordingly
“How widespread is COVID-19 in the general population, really?” Lewis said.
Yah, how much general widespread immunity is already out there? Are you and I already immune? Quite likely.
“That’s what we need to get a much better picture of. It’s important for policymakers who have to make difficult choices about how long to impose costly social distancing measures.”
This also speaks to Covid mortality rates being much lower then has been hyped in order to spread the virus of fear and stupidity. Also the fact of prevalence being higher seems sensible and has already been shown to be true inNew York and California, to name just two other locales.