For most of the pandemic, Belgium has had the worst death per million rate of any somewhat populous nation. (San Marino was always number 1, population 33k. Peru recently passed Belgium.)
So, Belgium already had a really bad first wave. The second wave does not look good. Deaths have barely started to climb, but things do seem out of control at the moment.
Andrew Cuomo’s new book is out, a fictional tale in which he proclaims himself master of coronavirus and viral savior of New York. But that’s not even close to true. Let's just go through Cuomo’s actions in the most important month. March. 1/
March 1: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces New York City’s first confirmed case of COVID-19. bit.ly/2SVQpvX 2/
March 2: Cuomo would spend this period strenuously arguing that New Yorkers were worrying too much. “In this situation, the facts defeat fear. Because the reality is reassuring. It is deep breath time.” bit.ly/3nORxzH 3/
Quick thread on how the media dunked on @realDonaldTrump's "hunch" that the fatality rate of this coronavirus, reported by WHO at 3.4%, was a "false number." Some background and context. Short answer, Trump is right.
Here's a sampling of the way it was framed by the media.
Vox: “astoundingly irresponsible.”
CNN: “I hesitate to even print the United States president's words here, because they're so at odds with what health experts are saying.”
MSNBC: “president of the US told a national television audience not to believe the research from the WHO's experts”
WaPo: Trump “twice admits that he's simply making up the percentage he's talking about, calling it a "hunch" and saying that it's his "personal" assessment.”