Node
I do take your point but a lot of what you are saying boils down to two points:
1. That everyone who has been found to have the virus and died has been labelled as dying of the virus. Valid point but what happens in a situation like this is that there are thorough clinical studies as those published in the Lancet and JAMA by the Chinese groups which detail the clinical picture, and then what happens in the real world with limited resources and fast moving scenarios. It is easy to document two parameters: those who are positive for SARS cov-2, because testing is centralised and data available immediately and a great deal of accuracy, and those who have died because again that is an easily verifiable occurrence. But the clinical details of what the actual cause of death such as is registered in death certificates may not be as easily collectable and collatable in this situation. This is my own analysis and I may be wrong but this would explain the wordings of some of the pronouncements made. Because of what was seen in China and Italy and Spain, you cannot afford the luxury of waiting for 100% proof data. In any case why are people dying in these numbers whatever the cause of death is? It may be more instructive to look at the weekly mortality figures from the ONS but even these lag by about two weeks. The latest available figures are from 27th March at the start of the sudden rise in cases.
2. Reliance on anecdotes of certain misdiagnoses that achieve a high profile and become the exceptions to prove the case, The Slough girl is a case in point, and so is the German patient who died of heart failure. But nobody seems concerned about many residents in care homes dying of what appears to be covid-19 but remained untested.
Yes there may be inaccuracies and confusion in specific cases but can we really get away from acknowledging that many people not expected to die are dying and very quickly and in large increasing numbers?