Godstud wrote:Here is a very good report on it. The 4 minute report explains a lot, too.
Fact Check: US has done more coronavirus tests than South Korea, but not per person
Facts First: While the US has overtaken South Korea in total numbers of coronavirus tests administered, it has conducted far fewer tests per capita given the US population is more than six times larger than South Korea's.
"Yes, it is true that South Korea has run less tests as an absolute number. However, it is important to point out the huge difference in the population sizes," Aubree Gordon, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, told CNN.
As of Wednesday, South Korea, which has a population of 51 million, had conducted 357,896 tests, based on reports from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Comparatively, the United States, with a population of 329 million, had administered at least 418,810 tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project, a group led by Alexis Madrigal, a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine, with more than 100 volunteers that compiles coronavirus testing data from state government websites and government officials.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/25/poli ... index.html
... It's also true that South Korea was dealing with a massive bubble in Daegu.
This bubble began on February 10th (
the Independent) -- a month and a half ago -- and the reason for such a massive number of tests was because
they literally tested all 215,000 members of Shincheonji (the
Korea Times), an easily identifiable group that released its membership roles. Not only were they easily identifiable, but because they were a cult that literally would meet have their members go to church 3-4 times a week, trying to get everyone there more than ten hours a week, they had little social life beyond this.
Hence, it was much easier to test such a vast number of people: they had a clear epidemeological trail...
and they had a over a month head start. New York alone is now testing at the capacity that all of South Korea tested at, which is 10,000 per day (
Business Insider).
New York's population is around 20 million (
World Population Reveal, 2020), not even close to half of the population of South Korea, which stands at 51.25 million (
World Population Review).
New York is doing a better job testing than South Korea, per capita, but will likely fail because their bubble is far less clear to track and the Korean and American are fundamentally different when it comes to how they interact, follow directions, and deal with the situation. So, I do not think they will be comparable.