I think the problem is the widespread impression, which is not without base, that China did not and is still not telling the whole truth. No doubts about S. Korea or Japan, but nothing that is published by Chinese media or authoritative sources can really be trusted unless independently verifiable.
I think that impression is wrong, and the Chinese medical establishment is now telling the truth. But for the sake of argument, suppose they are not. Suppose they lying and thousands of people are dying every day. That does not make the data from Japan and Korea suspect. It does not impeach the data from New York State, or New Zealand, or anyplace else. Experts in many places have done random antibody studies to determine what fraction of the population was infected but not tested. Naturally, it varies from one place to the other. Few in Korea, many in New York City. Either way, Roseland67's statement above is not true:
vehemently disagree.
You have absolutely ZERO idea how many people are infected, ZERO.
We do have some idea. Rosland67 is vehemently disagreeing with a world-class group of experts in Japan and Korea who have successfully brought this pandemic under control. Obviously, they know more about this than he does. Obviously too, they could not have stopped the pandemic if they had "ZERO idea how many people are infected." Without that knowledge you can do nothing to stop the pandemic.
He also said:
Do honestly believe that the 5 million people that have been tested and shown positive are the only infected people in the US?
Do you?
Hopefully not
This is a classic straw man argument. No, of course I do not believe that. NO ONE BELIEVES THAT.
Every article and every expert on earth has said the actual cases exceed the positive tests. The reasons are clear to everyone. That is why they do random antibody studies: to find out how many patients were not tested. That's the whole point. However, having done those tests, they can now make a reasonable estimate of the total number of cases. As I said, without that information, you cannot control the virus. You have no idea what the case mortality rate is, or how the virus affects people in various age groups, or where it was previously endemic.