Government's COVID-19 forecasts are totally flawed and we should move to lockdown level 1 now – Scientists

[Hanno Labuschagne]

Government's COVID-19 forecasts are totally flawed and we should move to lockdown level 1 now – Scientists

Pandemics, Data, and Analytics (PANDA) coordinators said there has been a breathtaking failure by COVID-19 modellers whose coronavirus death predictions for South Africa amounted to scaremongering.

Speaking to Biznews, PANDA co-ordinator Nick Hudson said the official modelling of South Africa’s projected mortalities from COVID-19 started at 375,000.

Hudson said this extremely high mortality figure “scared the living daylights” out of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 

[Lupus]

Ain't gonna happen

 

[Scooby_Doo]

Don't tell Zuma what to do you, western imperialist.

 

[Fjorko]

Bloody Agent ! Tsek

 

[borro]

Racist science!

 

[WalkWithMe]

Did anyone listen to CR? He said he wanted Level 1 but WHO advised against it.
Anyway you always going to get an expert saying something different.

 

[quovadis]

Hindsight is wonderful for those who work with data. It's called a forecast because it's based on data available at the time and extrapolated based on various factors. It's logical that forecasts prior to lockdown would differ to forecasts during and as the data becomes available thus the reduction of forecasts over time. The measures in place by government (whether questionable or not) cannot be excluded as a contribution to the forecast revisions.

 

[murray654]

Why is this in the broadband and IT news section?

 

[s0lar]

ANC is going to keep this quiet on the propaganda channels and take credit for the low amount of mortalities as their response to the virus. I guarantee it.

 

[Gaz{M}]

There are no experts on covid-19.

We can only adjust our models as we learn and test more.

 

[leonb]

Well its easy for these PANDA modellers to fault existing models and the decisions taken by government. They have absolutely no accountability.

 

[HartsockZA]

The government says no. You must put the lotion on and do what its told

 

[rambo919]

Science says..... they say to people that think science must be decolonized......

 

[km2]

This has not been observed anywhere in the world. Normally the exponentiating phase, if there really is one at all, is very short and then the growth rate of cases starts dropping off

Isn't that more due to countries that see the exponential phase ramping up ordering a lock down and then the growth rate drops.

He said every population in the world has many people who are simply resistant to COVID-19. “That is a robust finding. You will not find a single data point which refutes it.”

When he says "resistant" is this people who just won't get it, or people who become asymptomatic carriers that is even worse?

 

[Johand]

Well this is a good argument for open models.

I would also so that the Achilles heel of all the models is data. Using American, European and Chinese data for modelling is also not validated.

And BTW assuming the US, European and Chinese data is accurate might also be a mistake. There is a lot of work being done trying to reconcile current mortality figures (all causes) to historical data. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/05/us/coronavirus-death-toll-us.html

Short thing is ... we simply do not know. Combination of informal settlements, HIV, nutrition etc might give us a different result. Or it might not. Anybody that pretends that they know the actual answers are lying or deceiving themselves.

I am also worried about this "PANDA" organization. Who funds them? Who are they? Are their work peer-reviewed? I have been to their website and frankly it reminds me of the American "scientific" lobbying groups against climate change action. Lots of formal looking information but little information about funding, people involved, history etc.

 

[Johand]

Also Nick Hudson from PANDA is a partner in a private equity firm. Hardly neutral.

Modelling is good, but the media should not report as if PANDA is some independent academic outfit. They are not independent, and they want to achieve specific outcomes. They are a lobbying group.

 

[moosag]

If they make it public it will expose their lack of Excel experience ...

 

[quovadis]

Also Nick Hudson from PANDA is a partner in a private equity firm. Hardly neutral.

Modelling is good, but the media should not report as if PANDA is some independent academic outfit. They are not independent, and they want to achieve specific outcomes. They are a lobbying group.

Is there a publicly available and open model from PANDA on which they base their own forecasts/opinions?

 

[garp]

"He added that the model used to predict the number of infections and mortalities in South Africa has not been made public, which is deeply problematic."

This fact alone, regardless of what the models forecast, or differing opinions, underlines that the lockdown is inconsistent with the constitution, section 36 of which states:

"The rights in the Bill of Rights may be limited only in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom, taking into account all relevant factors..."

The basis of the decisions are not open. This is yet another way in which the regulations are not constitutional.

 

[Shadowchaser1]

Assumption is the MOTHER OF F*****S. The WHO is utterly useless. They did absolutely nothing since the start of COVID19. The SA Gov is useless. Their models prove nothing. Bring hard proof, I think they get their info from weird fantasy comic books. Glad I left the P***P**r country. You are an embarressment to yourself.