Friday's COVID19 Rundown
Fast-moving epidemic and even faster spinning
There is a LOT going on, but it all points to the same top line: COVID19 is accelerating in many places. By a lot. I am skipping over the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing, because the conflicting messages and disinformation render too much of its content useless. This makes me very sad, because every epidemic or health crisis that I have covered in my years as a reporter had one rock-solid constant: federal scientists were always reliable sources of facts and sound guidance, without political influence or purpose.
But pointing out one false statement made by President Trump Thursday is important: He said the USA has one of the lowest death rates from COVID-19. Unfortunately, this isn’t even close to correct, as the chart above from Johns Hopkins illustrates.
The CDC director says existing COVID-19 testing probably undercounts actual infections by a factor of 10. In other words, it’s possible that the actual case count in the USA is closer to 23 million than 2.3 million.
Florida reported 9,000 new cases and an astounding 15% positivity rate among people tested. In the last seven days, Florida’s case count has increased so much that new infections since last week account for 25% of the state’s entire COVID-19 population.
Texas and Florida are rolling back some of the reopening steps that they had taken prematurely. Some cities in other states are doing this, too.
Although many people die from COVID-19 — some within hours of hospitalization, more people are surviving. In England, the mortality rate has dropped from 6% in April to less than 2% now, according to a report by the BBC. Much of this can be explained by improved knowledge of how to manage COVID-19 patients, but experts say it also highlights why so much more remains unknown.
Facts still matter. President Trump Thursday repeated his claim that the US COVID19 crisis is a result of more testing, a point echoed by Vice President Pence Friday morning. Trump also said: “Deaths are down. We have one of the lowest mortality rates.” Sadly, this is false. The death toll in the United States keeps climbing - as does the rate at which the death rate is climbing.
Official status of COVID-19 in the USA from the CDC: “COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community (‘community spread’) in many affected geographic areas. Community spread means people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.”
Let’s watch the numbers and decisions over the weekend. Keep that space so that you don’t get germs in your face.