Americans are notoriously bad at math.
And this epidemic is all about denominators.
The number of Americans who have contracted COVID-19 is likely 10 times higher than the 2.5 million currently confirmed cases, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Center For Disease Control (CDC) Director Dr. Robert Redfield’s estimate indicates that at least 25 million Americans have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 to date.
That means the fatality rate could be 10 times lower than previously thought.
By the numbers as of June 28, via the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering:
- 2,510,337 confirmed cases
- 125,539 fatalities
- = 5.0% death rate
But using Redfield’s numbers, the equation looks like this:
- 25,103,370 cases
- 125,539 fatalities
- = 0.5% death rate
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have soared recently amid a massive testing increase in states across the country. But because the virus can be asymptomatic in up to 50% of people, the number of infected is likely far higher, Redfield says.