Parsing Out Dystopia: Passing 20,000 for Easter
The COVID-19 death rate in the United States has risen to about 3.9%. That's up from 2.9% on April 6. The US now has more coronavirus related deaths than any country in the world. Our number of cases has doubled in the last six days.
The Johns Hopkins Interactive Map is now tracking how many tests have been conducted in the US along with how many cases are hospitalized (82,809) in addition to the number of recoveries (32,314).
Currently, we are approaching 2.7 million tests, which is a good sign. Massive testing is one of the keys to returning to "normalcy," if there will be such a thing. My feeling is that the world has already changed in fundamental ways we have yet to fully recognize.
The good news is that the rate of death shows signs of slowing in most countries where hotspots of the virus emerged first. But in countries where hotspots emerged later (the US and the UK) this is not yet the case. If our "shelter in place" habits hold, however, we should see the same decline in death rates in the next couple of weeks.
Also encouragingly, the daily number of new COVID-19 cases seems to be dropping both worldwide and in the US. This is still an inconsistent pattern as you can see below, but the overall trend is positive, as of today.
However, I know a lot of people who are planning to drop social distancing in order to be with friends and family today, Easter Sunday. I am not one of them. I called my parents this morning and that's it for me. It will be interesting to see if there will be a jump in new cases in the following 5-14 days. If we don't then that will be a very positive sign.
The Johns Hopkins Interactive Map is now tracking how many tests have been conducted in the US along with how many cases are hospitalized (82,809) in addition to the number of recoveries (32,314).
Currently, we are approaching 2.7 million tests, which is a good sign. Massive testing is one of the keys to returning to "normalcy," if there will be such a thing. My feeling is that the world has already changed in fundamental ways we have yet to fully recognize.
The good news is that the rate of death shows signs of slowing in most countries where hotspots of the virus emerged first. But in countries where hotspots emerged later (the US and the UK) this is not yet the case. If our "shelter in place" habits hold, however, we should see the same decline in death rates in the next couple of weeks.
Also encouragingly, the daily number of new COVID-19 cases seems to be dropping both worldwide and in the US. This is still an inconsistent pattern as you can see below, but the overall trend is positive, as of today.
However, I know a lot of people who are planning to drop social distancing in order to be with friends and family today, Easter Sunday. I am not one of them. I called my parents this morning and that's it for me. It will be interesting to see if there will be a jump in new cases in the following 5-14 days. If we don't then that will be a very positive sign.
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| April 12. |
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| The daily number of new COVID-19 cases worldwide. |
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| The daily number of new cases in the United States as of this morning. |
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