Like the old jokes, there's good news and bad news today.
First the good news. It really does seem that we have reached the peak for corona virus infections. Over the last 10 days, the number of new cases in the USA has stopped going up. Here are the numbers by date according to the data released by Johns Hopkins researchers.
April 1 - 25,200
April 2 - 30,400
April 3 - 31,800
April 4 - 33,300
April 5 - 28,200
April 6 - 29,600
April 7 - 29,600
April 8 - 32,800
April 9 - 32,400
April 10 - 35,100
April 11 - 29,900
In March, the numbers of new cases per day were doubling about every 4 or 5 days. For example, on March 21, there were only 6300 cases which quadrupled over the next ten days.
In April, the number of daily tests has risen across the USA from 103,000 on April 1 to 154,000 on April 10. That means that the percentage of positive tests has been declining, a very good sign. It also means that the leveling off of the numbers of new cases is not a function of testing levels. Indeed, if anything, the number of cases should have risen along with the testing levels if there was any residual effect due to lack of testing.
Now the bad news. The fight against the corona virus hasn't made people any nicer. This morning on Twitter, the hashtag #TrumpsEasterTraditions is trending. The whole point of the hashtag is to "show" that the President isn't actually a Christian and that he doesn't believe in God. Of course, very few of those tweeting about this hashtag seem to be actual Christians either. They sound like angry leftists, but who knows. The point is that on Easter, it might be a good time to take a break from anger and hatred and even politics for the day. Sadly, there are just too many people for whom that is impossible.
Let's focus on the good news. For me, I think it is quite significant that what seems to be the end to the ever enlarging spread of the virus came at the confluence of Passover for Jews and Easter for Christians. Is it the answer to prayers? I don't know, but I believe that it is.
First the good news. It really does seem that we have reached the peak for corona virus infections. Over the last 10 days, the number of new cases in the USA has stopped going up. Here are the numbers by date according to the data released by Johns Hopkins researchers.
April 1 - 25,200
April 2 - 30,400
April 3 - 31,800
April 4 - 33,300
April 5 - 28,200
April 6 - 29,600
April 7 - 29,600
April 8 - 32,800
April 9 - 32,400
April 10 - 35,100
April 11 - 29,900
In March, the numbers of new cases per day were doubling about every 4 or 5 days. For example, on March 21, there were only 6300 cases which quadrupled over the next ten days.
In April, the number of daily tests has risen across the USA from 103,000 on April 1 to 154,000 on April 10. That means that the percentage of positive tests has been declining, a very good sign. It also means that the leveling off of the numbers of new cases is not a function of testing levels. Indeed, if anything, the number of cases should have risen along with the testing levels if there was any residual effect due to lack of testing.
Now the bad news. The fight against the corona virus hasn't made people any nicer. This morning on Twitter, the hashtag #TrumpsEasterTraditions is trending. The whole point of the hashtag is to "show" that the President isn't actually a Christian and that he doesn't believe in God. Of course, very few of those tweeting about this hashtag seem to be actual Christians either. They sound like angry leftists, but who knows. The point is that on Easter, it might be a good time to take a break from anger and hatred and even politics for the day. Sadly, there are just too many people for whom that is impossible.
Let's focus on the good news. For me, I think it is quite significant that what seems to be the end to the ever enlarging spread of the virus came at the confluence of Passover for Jews and Easter for Christians. Is it the answer to prayers? I don't know, but I believe that it is.
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