Sure, this could play a part. I'm not for one second going to suggest that they have tested every single person that has contracted covid-19.Schiff wrote: This just suggests that they are only testing people with severe symptoms. There may be another 100,000 cases where people have mild, flu-like symptoms and simply aren't being tested for this virus.
That said, the Chinese definition of "mild" cases (which they stated as around 80%), was everything other than what we'd consider intensive care, and included things like pneumonia, which somewhat skewed the expectations. South Korea, who have been the most proactive in testing people, are also reportedly hospitalising 40% of positive cases. Italy gives the best advance warning of what to expect here, they're already out of ventilators, having to prioritise using them on the patients with the best chance of survival.
So, the point was, in the context of the discussion, that indeed, restrictions similar to that in Italy are coming to us... This particular virus will cripple the NHS otherwise.
Woody's point that they have hospitilised more of the early cases, is also true, as this is almost certainly the case during the "containment" phase. However, when this starts to peak, many that would normally recieve hospital care, simply won't be able to as we'll be beyond capacity, and then some.
