A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data

**Comment**
Key quotes:
The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable.
Reported case fatality rates, like the official 3.4% rate from the World Health Organization, cause horror — and are meaningless.
A population-wide case fatality rate of 0.05% is lower than seasonal influenza. If that is the true rate, locking down the world with potentially tremendous social and financial consequences may be totally irrational. It’s like an elephant being attacked by a house cat.
A positive test for coronavirus does not mean necessarily that this virus is always primarily responsible for a patient’s demise.
_________________