Corona - Statistics & Lies

I have a real problem with statistics which goes way beyond my general lack of facility with maths. I just think that the Covid 19 Pandemic shows really clearly that it's impossible to understand the raw numbers we are currently given because there isn't enough context.

If I am to comprehend whether Covid 19 is a huge threat to me & be able to compare different countries methods of dealing with it, then I need a lot more information than we are given. It's just no good only telling me how many people have had it & how many have died. I need to know:-

• The Total Population per Country - probably broken down by Age, by Area, by Employed / Unemployed
• The Total Normal Annual Death Rate - probably broken down by Condition
• The Total Deaths by Covid 19 - Compared to Total Survival rate - Broken down into ICU & Intubation graduating down to No / Few Symptoms. 
• The Total Deaths from other main Diseases.

Just repeating the same mantras daily in the Government briefings is boring & unhelpful. A Cabinet Spokesman bookended by two "Experts" doesn't do it for me. How many people have the time, knowledge or inclination to research into the figures for themselves?

 

If you try, as I have, you realise how difficult it is to get comparable statistics & reach any conclusions. That means that probably we haven't been in the habit of collecting & collating the correct statistics. They simply aren't available for the UK & certainly not for the world. Ranking countries by death from Covid 19 is a nonsense - Some Governments lie or just don't have the information.

This is what I found:-

Population - England - 55,977,178
                      Scotland - 5,454,000
                      Ireland - 4,904,000
                      Wales - 3,136,000
In Employment - England - 32,540,000
                              Scotland - 4,000,000
                              Ireland - 2,280,000
                              Wales - 1,500,000
Over 65 - England - 10,175,253
                 Scotland - 1,026,114
                 Ireland - 675,149
                 Wales - 651,993

Total Annual Deaths  -  England & Wales - 533,253 (2017)
                                        Scotland - 58,503 (2018)
                                        Ireland - 31,116 (2018)

Total UK Deaths by Covid 19 - 34,716 - 244,995 cases - 210,279 survived
                                                     86% lived / 14% died
Any death is regrettable & causes immense suffering, but why has all the rhetoric accentuated only the negative stats? Is 14% a much higher death rate than for other diseases?

Total Deaths from Chronic Heart Disease -  110,000 deaths in England each year. More than 1.4 million suffer from angina and 275,000 people have a heart attack annually. Heart and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter (27 per cent) of all deaths in the UK; that's nearly 170,000 deaths each year - an average of 460 people each day or one death every three minutes.

Total UK Deaths from Cancer in the UK - There are around 165,000 cancer deaths in the UK every year, that's around 450 every day (2015-2017). Cancer accounts for more than a quarter (28%) of all deaths in the UK (2017).

I tried to get the most up to date figures. The trouble with statistics is that there doesn't seem to be an agreed, standardised, method across the UK, never mind about worldwide.

Make of this what you will. All I'm saying is we are not getting the full picture. Covid 19 is undoubtedly a terrible virus, but we need perspective to make choices for ourselves & do our own personal risk assessment.