2 COVID Vaccines Approved, End to Pandemic in Sight??

[Merlin]

When you can show that they didn't fudge any numbers, maybe I'll believe some of this stuff.  For instance, if you test positive on the quickie test, and then go get it confirmed, do they count that as 2 positive cases?  I've heard yes.  If someone goes to the hospital for something, and tests positive, even though they aren't there for that reason, do they count it as a Covid hospitalization?  Again, I've heard yes - for people giving birth, having a broken leg, etc.  For deaths, I've heard from lots of people that their relatives were listed as Covid deaths even though they died WITH Covid rather than FROM Covid.  A friend's husband had a heart attack, no Covid symptoms - not only did they refuse to do an autopsy when the wife thought that he might have been poisoned by someone (for good reason), they put Covid on his death certificate even though he had zero symptoms.  She was mad and tried to fight it, but they wouldn't budge.  When hospitals are given money to put someone on a ventilator, my guess is they're doing that whether people need it or not (or at the very least, writing down that they were on a ventilator).

Until you can show me that they are straight-shooters in reporting the numbers, I'm not buying what the government is selling.  Sorry.

I have heard some of those claims and seen reports that debunk them from doctors and hospitals. I have also heard claims of the exact opposite. The big one is that people who die from covid-related complications are not being counted as covid deaths when they should. Given our testing infrastructure is so limited, only like 10% of the people with symptoms get tested and even fewer people who die get tested unless they need to be. I've seen reports claiming that there are people who are likely dying from Covid (or post-Covid complications) but are being attributed to other conditions like strokes or Pneumonia. Pneumonia, for example, is almost always a symptom of something else... and this was way before flu season which suggests that testing for Covid antibodies is reasonable as part of investigating the cause of death. And while people do get strokes, they are far more common in Covid victims.

Likewise, I have also seen quite a bit of evidence debunking claims of overcounting and discrediting the conspiracy theory that hospitals overreport to get more money. But there is no way to know for sure that there is no over or undercounting. My guess is that if there is over/undercounting that it probably evens out in the wash. Much like the recent claims of voter fraud. If there is any, it's likely statistically irrelevant and likely to occur on both sides of the partisan divide given how emotionally charged elections can be. Whenever I hear these claims, I usually assume sour grapes.

Ultimately the numbers are coming from doctors and hospitals, not from the government. I'd like to believe that our medical professionals know how to count and are more responsible than we give them credit for. They should have controls in place to make sure that people who get tested multiple times are not counted as infected more than once unless they legitimately get infected a second time later on. Worldwide statistics paint the same picture, so it seems unlikely that things are being faked here in the US.

Maybe I'm just too much of a skeptic to accept conspiracy theories. If I can't logically justify an argument I am always highly skeptical of it.