Virus Fatality Picture Is Obscured by Ultimate Lagging Indicator (Correct)

The Trump administration has highlighted an apparent disconnect between rising cases and declining mortality as proof the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

“Fatalities are declining all across the country,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a coronavirus task-force briefing in Washington on Friday. He called the rise in new cases in people under 35 “very encouraging news,” saying they aren’t as likely to die from Covid-19.

However, the mismatch appears to be more an anomaly caused by quirks in how deaths data is collected and reported, along with a greater number of younger people catching the contagion, than a sign the coronavirus is ...