Why does Russia only have 59 reported COVID-19 cases?

[DonaldsRump]

That is ludicrously low. Either they are vastly understating numbers or something very strange is going on.

[jimfields33]

1. Lots of countries have zero

Only Korea, Italy, Iran, China and maybe France he had a big case of it.

[Drahthaardogs]

14. Not true. Look at numbers today.

Germany, Norway, Sweden are all exploding. Spain too. The U K. is in for the worst of it.

[jimfields33]

18. My thoughts were days ago.

I thought this thing was almost done since China is improving so much. I guess I better read up.

[Drahthaardogs]

19. Yes. Try worldometer. Our CDC quit tracking

Which is bullshit.

[jimfields33]

20. Thank you

I never heard of worldometer. But so thankful you pointed me the site.

[jberryhill]

29. .

Confirmed per Country/Region

80,995 China
21,157 Italy
12,729 Iran
8,086 Korea, South
6,391 Spain
4,585 Germany
4,481 France
2,952 US
1,359 Switzerland
1,143 United Kingdom
1,090 Norway
961 Sweden
959 Netherlands
836 Denmark
773 Japan
696 Cruise Ship
689 Belgium
655 Austria
337 Qatar
252 Canada
250 Australia
238 Malaysia
228 Greece
225 Finland
212 Singapore
210 Bahrain
193 Israel
189 Czechia
181 Slovenia
169 Portugal
156 Iceland
151 Brazil
129 Ireland
123 Romania
115 Estonia
111 Philippines
110 Iraq
109 Egypt
104 Kuwait
103 Saudi Arabia
103 Poland
102 India
96 Indonesia
93 Lebanon
85 United Arab Emirates
82 Thailand
80 San Marino
61 Chile
59 Russia
59 Taiwan*
53 Vietnam
51 Luxembourg
46 Serbia
44 Slovakia
41 Bulgaria
40 Brunei
38 Albania
38 Peru
38 South Africa
38 Croatia
37 Algeria
36 Panama
34 Argentina
31 Pakistan

[yonder]

31. Except for South Africa and Algeria,

I don't see any other countries from the African continent on that list. Egypt too.

That seems odd but I guess it would be from lack of testing?

[jberryhill]

37. You can only count the cases you can test

Also that’s not the whole list, which is tricky to copy on a cell phone

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[brush]

39. Who believes that Russian number?

[Buckeyeblue]

2. Do we believe anything Russia says?

[Igel]

34. Sometimes.

Lying isn't a reflex for most Russian apparatchiki. When the truth accomplishes the same goal as lying, when truth accomplishes the goal when lying wouldn't, you typically get the truth.

The trick is being able to determine the real goals, and therefore the likely truth value.


More to the point, the number of reported cases =/= the actual number of cases, in any country. It's the number of tests that were positive and which were reported, supplemented on a country-by-country basis by clinical diagnoses (such as "looks like the flu, flu test is negative, person's coworker has covid, so it's almost certainly covid&quot .

In the case of Russia, I have precisely zero knowledge of their testing and reporting procedures, extent of testing, etc., etc. Just like Pakistan. Or India. Or Venezuela. Some of them have significant exposure to China and Chinese workers and weak health-care systems. The low report rate is more likely a measure of their health-care system than the extent of the contagion, which is also true to a large extent in the US (and, give asymptomatic spread, everywhere else--it's a matter of degree).

[DonaldsRump]

3. Ni pravda

Take a look at this: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Russia is 1/3rd the size of the US and had huge Chinese tourism. It is not some small country.

[Laffy Kat]

4. For the same reason, "We don't have gay people" per Putin. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Da. But, for some reason, we have "people who fall from rooftops", comrade. nt

[LisaL]

6. Why does West Virginia has no cases?

All the other states have cases.
Oooh. Must be something going on in West Virginia.

[Maeve]

11. Something that ISN'T going on, more like

Testing.

[LisaL]

12. Bingo!

[cos dem]

27. Not necessarily

I saw a good article from WV governor (sorry, if I can find it again, I'll post the link) saying that WV was probably spared initially, being a small, rural state with little interaction with the outside world. However, he assumed it was already there, just under the surface, and that they needed to prepare just like the rest of the world.

Not the same article, but makes a lot of the same points:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/west-virginia-governor-closes-schools-amid-virus-threat/2020/03/13/a20ea1da-656d-11ea-8a8e-5c5336b32760_story.html

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Because they lie like rugs?

[enough]

8. They have a settled policy going back into the Soviet era of never telling the truth about anything.

[Laf.La.Dem.]

9. North Korea - has ZERO

Russia - 59 cases
North Korea - 0 cases

THAT is fake news!!!

[superpatriotman]

10. Turkey, too

I don’t believe their reported numbers for a second.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. No nation bordering Iran would likely have low case count.

Poor Afghanistan is scared to death of them.

I'm not seeing reporting at all from Syria......

Numbers for many nations don't mean much because they are not testing hardly at all.

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. The manly Putin demands the virus stay away! COVID wouldn't dare invade Russia!

[DFW]

15. Maybe they only have 59 cases reported to the outside world

I'm sure the other 20,000 cases are on Putin's desk somewhere with names, addresses and phone numbers, along with ethnicity, level of education and political affiliation.

That's the way things work in the Soviet Union (and in a Russia run by former Soviet officials). You just don't report bad news. Bad news is fake news. What you report is good news. This is one of the several reasons I insist that our Republicans are loyal, true Stalinists. Voter suppression, convincing the downtrodden they live in a paradise, and that all critics are traitors from without. Stalin or Trump? If you have to ask, the question has already been answered.

[Iwasthere]

17. Same reason we have lower numbers than expected here by now

NO PROPER TESTING! JESUS CHRIST! The numbers mean nothing without testing. My wife and I went to a drive thru yesterday. They said you have to get out of your car and go inside to process, and get signed off with a doc first, (have enough symptoms) then come back out get of your car and drive through. I am pretty fucking sure that's not how it works in South Korea. Test groups that DON'T have around the country. THEN you'll see the real picture.

[Igel]

36. I have trouble stressing out over the testing.

Given that we're not going around routinely testing asymptomatic people--only China in the worst-affected areas went that far, even S. Korea limited such testing to a non-random group--we're missing a lot of cases.

All the drive-up testing and testing on demand is mostly going to hit those who suspect they've gotten ill. That might be hypochondriacs, it might be people with colds, it might be mild or perhaps severe cases of covid. But I doubt most people who feel fine are going to stand in line on the off chance that they'll be an asymptomatic positive.

[ChicagoRonin]

21. Did you see Chernobyl?

They don't have a history of truth during these sorts of things.

[Raine]

22. Liars nt

[Takket]

23. putin is the guy who invented fake news........

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. No, fake news in Russia and its predecessor, the USSR, long predates Putin.

He's just carrying on the tradition.

[RichardRay]

24. Because they're lying weasels. n/t

[treestar]

25. They lie

or maybe the best CT is that it's their experiment! They seem to want to control the world.

[elleng]

26. 'reported'

[Squinch]

28. Because they're lying sacks.

[Jarqui]

32. Vlad is having a contest with Trump on who can suppress their numbers more ... nt

[yonder]

33. For the same reason Putin is still driving the bus.

[Caliman73]

35. Because they are lying.

Putin has a tight grip on information coming out or Russia. He is like Trump in that low numbers mean he is strong and competent.

There is no way they have only that many.

[bdamomma]

38. they are

lying too. they don't want the true numbers to come out, remind you of someone else.