RfC: Criteria for territory listing

Background

From 27 to 30 March, we ran an RfC that resulted in the split of some territories (Link to RfC). While the decision did lead to a more stable situation, it did not cover all possible territories. These were deferred to a future discussion but no agreement was reached so far (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). After the implementation of the decision, we also faced some implementation problems such as the lack of reliable sources for overseas France after 26 March (example discussion) or that our criteria for some territories such as Åland Islands and the Akrotiri and Dhekelia was completely unique and not backed by any reliable source. Further discussions did not lead to any clear consensus to solve these disputes, and the original RfC did not provide enough guidance to solve them either. The goal of this RfC is to agree on more comprehensive criteria for territory listing.

Proposals

Proposal A (MarioGom)

This proposal consists of using the World Health Organization as a baseline with some exceptions based on other reliable sources (WP:RS).

The primary criteria for territory listing will be the scheme followed by the World Health Organization Situation Reports (example: 7 April 2020). The following exceptions will be applied:

• Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are split from mainland China. These have different reporting authorities and the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China does not publish totalized counts (example). This split is additionally backed by Reuters, The New York Times, the South China Morning Post and the Berliner Morgenpost. The BBC and the ECDC do not split Hong Kong and Macau, but they do split Taiwan.
• Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin are merged with France. French authorities report statistics separately to the World Health Organization. However, they do not split them in their own daily updates ([1]). As a result, reliable statistics for metropolitan France excluding overseas France are only available from WHO Situation Reports with a delay of up to 24 hours. This merge is additionally backed by the ECDC, The New York Times, Bloomberg and the Berliner Morgenpost. It is not backed by Reuters, the BBC and the South China Morning Post. This exception does not apply to French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna.

Also, territories that are not listed at WHO Situation Reports at all, may be listed if all the following requisites are met:

1. There is at least one reliable source for the statistics.
2. The counts are not included under any other territory in WHO Situation Reports.

Cruise ships may also be listed standalone as long as they are not reported under any specific country.

Some notes about practical implications of this proposal. Territories that would meet criteria to be listed standalone:

• The partially recognized states of Palestine and Kosovo both meet all criteria to maintain the listing. Both because of WHO Situation Reports as well as all other cited reliable sources.
• All British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies except Akrotiri and Dhekelia (see below) meet all criteria to split them. Both because of WHO Situation Reports as well as all other cited reliable sources.
• Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be maintained split from the United States per WHO Situation Reports as well as part of the cited reliable sources.
• Greenland and the Faroe Islands meet all criteria to maintain the split from Denmark.
• Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten meet all criteria to maintain the split from the Netherlands.
• The Caribbean Netherlands meets criteria for inclusion since they are split by the World Health Organization (listed as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba).
• Northern Cyprus currently meets criteria to be listed since it is not counted under Cyprus by any source and reliable sources exist for it. This is additionally backed by Reuters.
• Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic currently meet the last criteria for listing since reliable sources exist, and they are not counted in Ukrainian or Russian statistics by any source. Note that statistics from Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts published by Ukraine do not include cases in areas currently not under de facto control by Ukraine.

Territories that would not meet criteria to be listed standalone:

• The Åland Islands are merged with Finland because neither WHO Situation Reports or any reliable source publishing worldwide figures split it.
• Transnistria is kept merged with Moldova for the same reason as above.
• Akrotiri and Dhekelia are merged with Cyprus for the same reason as above.
• At the moment, Abkhazia does not meet criteria for inclusion because there are no confirmed cases handled in its territory. The only confirmed case was tested and treated in Georgian territory. This might change in the future.
• At the moment, the only cases confirmed in Western Sahara occurred in areas under Moroccan control (see MINURSO report: [2]). As such, they are reported under Morocco by their authorities and the World Health Organization. Most cited press sources list Western Sahara but it is unclear if cases are double-counted in Morocco's entry. This might change in the future.

Unclear status at the moment:

• Somaliland
• Nagorno-Karabakh

Proposal B (MarioGom)

Same as Proposal A, but without the French exception. This would mean that the only reliable source for France (defined as metropolitan France excluding overseas France) would be WHO Situation Reports. Updates would need to be delayed up to 24 hours if we want them to be consistent. The text would be as follows:

The primary criteria for territory listing will be the scheme followed by the World Health Organization Situation Reports (example: 4 April 2020). The following exceptions will be applied:

• Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are split from mainland China. These have different reporting authorities and the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China does not publish totalized counts (example). This split is additionally backed by Reuters, The New York Times, the South China Morning Post and the Berliner Morgenpost. The BBC and the ECDC do not split Hong Kong and Macau, but they do split Taiwan.

Also, territories that are not listed at WHO Situation Reports at all, may be listed if all the following requisites are met:

1. There is at least one reliable source for the statistics.
2. The counts are not included under any other territory in WHO Situation Reports.

Cruise ships may also be listed standalone as long as they are not reported under any specific country.

Survey

Add your !vote here. Please, take your time to carefully read each proposal before !voting.

• I prefer A. Heitordp (talk) 00:26, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

• Heitordp: It is still a draft, but I'll make sure to include your !vote when I post it to the talk page! ;-) --MarioGom (talk) 18:48, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Discussion

Discuss here.