“one major anomoly seems to be Germany with 104K cases (which seem correct for the country of their size) but only having 1842 fatalities.”
Yes, I agree. While the death rate is important, my primary concern at the moment is the new cases. Our death rate has been steadily climbing as a percent of total cases. As of yesterday, I am showing it stood at 2.9%. It may go higher. The key is to stop the growth of the virus. In the end, that will take care of the deaths. I hope these last two days may be a positive “sign.” Not much more to hope for :-).
Also France seems to be leveling off ... but UK is still on the uptrend.