Cute. But wrong. In order for them to mean the same thing, the pessimist would have to be "there are more recovered cases than expected" Of course, that is not a pessimistic stance, that is optimistic. The pessimistic (and I believe realistic viewpoint) is that it is exceedingly likely there are more cases than we know, and a SURGE of these people will be hitting the ER in about 5-15 days.
Pessimist: there are more cases than expected
They both mean the same thing. And for now, it is pure speculation.