50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic

Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by notahacker on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @06:11AM (#22603425)

Overestimates of the severity of the threat have much less harmful consequences than underestimates. For a start, actual casualty statistics are not independent from mitigation actions taken.

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Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by vanniv on Wednesday March 18, 2020 @12:50AM (#22613740)

Don't underestimate the number of people whose lives will ultimately be shortened by the economic harm being done in panic over the virus.

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Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by snapetom on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:21PM (#22607368)

Definitely agree, but at a certain point, WHO is going to be seen as crying wolf. They've already taken a large credibility hit in this crisis. They can't afford to ignore their perception in the age of populism and social media.

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Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by easytiger on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @07:04AM (#22603694)

> Overestimates of the severity of the threat have much less harmful consequences than underestimates.

We didn't take the estimates for SARS and h1n1 as "seriously" as now, and they are just as if not worse than this.And look what happened.

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Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by notahacker on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @07:43AM (#22603882)

I think Asian countries took the estimates pretty seriously. I think both would have been worse if they didn't, especially SARS.

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Re:50% – 75% of cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic by barrkel on Tuesday March 17, 2020 @01:17PM (#22607310)

SARS was more lethal and more infectious than COVID-19. It was however easier to contain because there wasn't much asymptomatic transmission, and the incubation period was short. Those two things are what makes COVID-19 more dangerous in practice.

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