'Cover-up' claims from US are all sound and fury（谎言：美国最新一轮阴谋论的源头）
"There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Mark Twain is often credited for this well-worn adage about the power of numbers to deceive. He didn't come up with it, but it sure sounds like something he'd say.
Some in the United States have studied this expression well, given their latest attacks on China. They've made it a little simpler, though: In the absence of statistics, all they have to throw around are lies.
The newest round of absurdities comes courtesy of a government and media struggling to find a scapegoat for their disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. As China emerges from lockdown after successful containment of the virus — though concern remains over a possible second wave — a furious US populace, with tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands infected, is demanding to know why those in charge did not act sooner. Rather than provide an apology or real solutions, some are alleging China deliberately undercounted its infections and deaths in an effort to "cover up" the scale of the outbreak and mislead the world.
This is, of course, an utter falsehood. Ask any of these people to substantiate their claims and they'll come up empty, maybe mumble something about their gut tells them they're right. At most, they will cite poorly sourced reports that should never have been published in the first place.
Friday's revision of Wuhan's death toll has thrown fuel on the conspiratorial fire. Already the hyenas in the Western press are salivating, drawing the worst possible conclusions from what would be commended if it happened in any other country. Now that the worst of the outbreak has passed, Wuhan has been able to take a breath and audit its data to ensure an accurate count. One would think this is the very behavior critics want to see. But since they're continuing to take potshots at China anyway, we can guess how genuine their commitment to transparency really is.
The uptick in numbers has several perfectly reasonable explanations. When the virus was at its apex, health systems were stretched to their absolute limits. This was remedied with the swift construction of temporary hospitals, but those Herculean efforts could not save everyone and some sadly passed away at home. Testing infrastructure also took time to catch up to the spread of the epidemic, meaning some who died of the virus were previously uncounted. Any increase in death tolls is cause for heartbreak, of course. But it’s better in the long run to have as precise as possible — and the 1,290 Wuhan revised yesterday is a far cry from the tens of thousands or millions some were twisting themselves into pretzels to make sound plausible.
Putting all that nonsense aside, basic arithmetic calls the whole "cover-up" thesis into question. Though it has a large urbanized population, China's proportional death rate falls well within a reasonable range; China's per-million rate falls below the Republic of Korea's and above Japan's, for instance. Strangely enough, no one is accusing Japan of falsifying its numbers. I'm sure its economic and strategic relationship with the US has nothing to do with that.
With that in mind, let's again review China's methods to see if the country passes muster. Days after sustained human-to-human transmission was confirmed, China enacted an unprecedented outbreak control regime. Among other measures, it included near-universal temperature checks, a leveled system of screening and clearly partitioned levels of quarantine. In particular, the centralized isolation of patients with mild symptoms away from home was singled out by the World Health Organization as the most effective method of curbing the spread of the virus — something the United States has yet to implement on a wide scale.
In China, testing and treatment were made free to all; meanwhile potential carriers in the US, where millions have lost their jobs and for-profit health insurance reigns supreme, are often avoiding the hospital and staying home. This can spread the virus to family members and other close contacts.
That's assuming they're not being made to work, of course. As there are no binding national-level guidelines on outbreak control or essential employment, states and localities have been given a great deal of latitude in how they are handling their epidemics. Some have adopted the necessary protocols to hamper infections. Others have dismissed concerns and voiced their desire to return to "business as usual". We will know soon enough which approach is the right one; some will pay dearly for this little federalist experiment.
There is no "cover-up" to blame for the relatively modest casualty count in China. We know exactly who is responsible: The Chinese people, who took the threat of the virus seriously and sacrificed personal comfort to comply with lockdowns, especially in Wuhan; the healthcare professionals who risked life and limb to battle the disease on the front lines; and the Chinese government, which acted decisively to blunt the contagion's spread.
That success was paid for with blood, and those who lost their lives should be venerated as martyrs in a struggle for the survival of the human race. Implying such a hard-won victory came about by fudging statistics or outright lying dishonors their memories. It's nothing more than a cheap dodge, meant to smother the wholly righteous anger radiating from those demanding answers from their government.
Instead of fabricating conspiracies from thin air, the US should be asking what it can learn from China's experience combating the epidemic. Maybe then it would see how the death rate has been kept so low.
The author is a US writer with China Daily.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.
文字评论推荐作品译文
谎言：美国最新一轮阴谋论的源头
作者：伊谷然
“世界上有三种谎言：谎言、弥天大谎和统计数字。”
马克·吐温常被认为是这句格言的作者。尽管听起来确实像是 他的语言风格，但他并没有说过这句话。
不过，看看最近美国对中国的舆论攻击，一些美国人应该认真 研究了这句名言。只是，他们把名言直接简化了:在毫无统计数字的情况下，他们所能抛出的只能是谎言。
美国应对新冠疫情大流行的不力表现简直是灾难，其政府和媒 体却不遗余力寻找替罪羊，而最新一轮的荒谬攻击正是源自于此。
最近，在中国订正了新冠肺炎确诊和死亡病例的数字之后，美 国又出现了一波抹黑中国的阴谋论。
随着中国成功遏制病毒后有序解除封锁，愤怒的美国民众(美国已有数十万人感染新冠病毒，数以万计的人死亡)要求知道，为什么美国领导人没有早点采取行动。
但是，美国某些人不思悔过，不去积极提供真正的疫情解决方 案，而是指责中国故意少报确诊人数和死亡人数，试图“掩盖”疫 情规模误导世界。
这些言论纯粹是彻头彻尾的谎言。如果让他们来证实自己的观 点，他们会喃喃自语地说出他们的直觉告诉他们是对的，最多只会 引用来源不佳的新闻报道。
2020 年 4 月 17 日，武汉市就新冠肺炎确诊病例数、确诊病例死亡数订正情况进行了通报，美国的阴谋论之火又被添了一把柴。西 方媒体的鬣狗们已经垂涎欲滴，科学订正疫情数据如果发生在其他 任何国家都值得称赞，西方媒体却从中得出了最糟糕的结论。
事实上，现在中国疫情最严重的时候已经过去，武汉可以对数 据进行订正，确保统计数字准确。有人或许会认为订正疫情数据正 中“批评家”的下怀。但由于这些西方“批评家”不断胡乱抨击中 国，我们完全可以知道他们对所谓“透明度”的信奉到底有几多真 诚。
任何死亡人数的增加都会让人心碎。但是，死亡数字的上升有几个完全合理的解释。
疫情处于顶峰时，武汉卫生系统已达到了绝对极限。这些巨大的努力并不能拯救每一个人，有些人在家里不幸去世。另外，病毒 检测也需要时间，这意味着一些死亡人口之前没有被统计在内。
从长远来看，数据越精确越好。西方有些人为了让中国的疫情数据听起来貌似可信，将数据扭曲为几万甚至几百万例。武汉昨天 核增 1290 例死亡病例，这无疑与哗众取宠之声相差悬殊。
此外，基本的算术就能让整个“掩盖数据”阴谋论受到质疑。中国虽然城市化人口众多，但人口死亡比例仍在合理范围内。例如，
中国的新冠肺炎死亡率低于韩国，高于日本。奇怪的是，没有人指责日本伪造数据。我相信美日经济和战略关系与此无关。
让我们再次回顾一下中国的抗“疫”之路，看看这个国家应对疫情是否合格。
在确认病毒会持续人传人之后，中国就实施了前所未有的管控举措。包括几乎所有场所都要体温检测、分级筛查和明确划分的隔 离级别。世界卫生组织特别指出，将症状轻微的患者从家中隔离转 为集中隔离是遏制病毒传播的最有效方法，而美国尚未大规模实施 这一措施。
在中国，检测和治疗对所有人免费。相反，美国的医疗保险以盈利为目的，潜在的病毒携带者往往不去医院，而是呆在家里。这 会将病毒传播给家庭成员和其他密切接触者。
此外，由于在疫情控制或就业方面没有具有约束力的国家级指导方针，美国各州在处理疫情方面有很大的自由度。一些州采取了 必要措施来防止感染。其他地方则对这些担忧不屑一顾，并表示希 望“一切如常”。我们很快就会知道哪种方法是正确的，有些人会 为这个小小的联邦主义实验付出沉重代价。
疫情期间，中国死亡人数相对较少，绝不是因为所谓的“掩盖数据”。我们清楚地知道谁为此做出了贡献：中国人民。
中国政府果断采取行动，中国人民严肃对待病毒，牺牲个人生活遵守封锁措施，特别是在武汉。医护人员在前线冒着生命危险与 疾病作斗争。这些都遏制了疫情危机的蔓延。
成功来之不易，那些为人类生存而牺牲的人应该作为烈士受到尊敬。暗示这一来之不易的胜利是通过捏造数据，甚至公然说谎来 玷污中国，这只不过是一种廉价的托词，意在压制那些愤怒的要求 美国政府作出回应的人。
美国不应凭空捏造阴谋论，而应问问自己能从中国抗击疫情的成功经验中学到什么。也许那时它就会明白为什么中国的死亡率保 持在这么低的水平。
