https://freopp.org/the-covid-19-nursing-home-crisis-by-the-numbers-3a47433c3f70
Here's some graphics you can share to spread and wake people up regarding the reality of the virus. Remember that fatalities are the primary metric by which sensible policy makers operate off. It's real-world, permanent effects. You either recover, or you don't.
https://freopp.org/our-mission-3b16e8e8c656
"The Foundation for Research on Equal
Opportunity conducts original research on expanding economic opportunity to those who least have it. FREOPP is committed to deploying the nation’s leading scholars and the tools of individual liberty, free enterprise, and technological innovation to serve this mission. All research conducted by FREOPP considers the impact of public policies and proposed reforms on those with incomes or wealth below the U.S. median. FREOPP is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization financed by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations."
"At FREOPP, we are building a credible bridge between those on the left and the right who genuinely want to expand opportunity to those who least have it. Because that’s the only way we’ll achieve real progress."
I think the "XXX new cases" situation is pure statistics.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of governments (local, state, federal) are reporting numbers all the time. Given the wide variance of societies around the world and the "random" nature in which the virus spreads, no one will be able to perfectly predict what numbers will come next. So, global reporting of new infection rates essentially becomes a random process.
Think of it like this: roll a standard die six times. Statistically, you'll roll each side exactly once. This may happen in practice, but it may not. However, if you keep rolling (even just a few more times), you will likely roll every side at least once.
The new case reporting process is exactly like this process, just with a 999-sided die.
Closely related to this phenomenon is the Law of Large Numbers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_large_numbers.
Please note that I'm NOT saying agencies are reporting random numbers. They are likely doing the best they can with the data they have (or they're faking numbers, but that's still imperfect data).
What I AM saying is this: imagine all the reporting agencies mailed their new case numbers to a single person. That person had a list of numbers, 100-999 in this case (all possilbe three-digit numbers). The person opens an envelope, looks at the number, and crosses the number off the list.
Let's do a VERY rough estimate of how many agencies are reporting numbers:
~200 countries in the world.
Global average of 10 different agencies reporting numbers per country (this includes all state and local municipalities).
We've been reporting new infection rates for about three months now.
Many agencies report once a week.
200 * 10 * 3 * 4 = 24,000.
Even with this very, very, very rough estimate which should not be used outside this illustrative example, we see just how many new case reports there can be.
Imagine rolling a 10-sided dice 240 times, then being surprised that you did indeed roll all 10 sides once. In fact, you shouldn't be surprised at all, because that's just statistics, my friend. :)