A friend of mine posted this COVID-19 update on Facebook this morning. It’s worth sharing. So with permission…
COVID-19 UPDATE–PAROLED EDITION
Well, after an enforced hiatus for making an empirically supported observation about a certain country’s citizens’ lack of ambulation and high BMI (which people used to pay me to make when I was a personal trainer), I am, to paraphrase The Terminator, “Bach.”
Holy crap did things turn out EXACTLY as expected.
As a nation, we blindly jumped out of a plane despite others (China, South Korea, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, France) warning us to take a parachute. Luckily, as we fell to earth, we managed to MacGyver a parachute. It was far from the best parachute, but it slowed our descent. We’d only break our legs on landing and suffer a massive concussion. But we’d live.
But since we slowed, many of us got it into what-passes-for-brains that we didn’t need even that rickety parachute anymore. (And we can’t blame Trump or the GOP for all of this. State and local governments also bear responsibility as do each and every one of us). We reached up, cut the cords, and guess what?
So, now we’re falling faster than we ever had. And the ground is closer than it ever was. Some states are trying to MacGyver a backup parachute (California, Texas, Florida, Arizona) but candidly, we’re way too close to the ground for it to make any difference. As a nation, we are absolutely going to crash and hard.
But that doesn’t mean all of us have to. Stay home. Only go out when absolutely necessary. Wear masks when out and in close proximity to any humans. But let’s be real–wearing masks are to protect you and those you live with. Those that don’t wear masks don’t care about you, your fam or friends or others.
And, and for those with kids, yes your kids are vectors. YOUR KIDS ARE VECTORS whether you want to accept that or not. Muzzle them! I muzzle mine. And they hate it. But guess what. I got the parent merit badge.
So, with that rant, here are some stats to rain on your Monday. All data is from USAFacts.org, which the CDC itself pulls from. I have all cumulative confirmed infection data, new daily confirmed data, daily infections per 100K population data, and death data down to the county level for the entire U.S. If you want to see how much of a hellhole you are living in, just DM me.
The charts below show the number of new cases reported by day (blue columns) with a 7-day moving average trendline (red dotted line) through June 27, 2020. In the month I’ve been in the SHU, the U.S. has DOUBLED its daily number of new infections. Infections are not just heading back up but accelerating. New York and New Jersey appear to have their infections largely under control, but, to be sure, are not infection-free. Nonetheless, as you will see, removing New York and New Jersey, the rest of the U.S. really is skyrocketing with new cases. (Y’all better not let any “foreigners” in, i.e., non-New Yorkers/New Jerseyers).
Ohio (aka North Florida/Eastern California), where I’m at did have somewhat of a decline, but the purported “Responsible Restart” initiative certainly has restarted something, and it ain’t what we wanted restarted.
California, where I was born….. oh boy.
Florida? No words.
Texas? Same, girl.
Georgia? Oy.
Even Washington State, which has dealt with this the longest, is surging upward.
But none of this should be surprising to anyone. This was 100% expected. In fact, it was a scientific certainty. Opening back up, plus the many protests, plus Trumpers, well, there’s a reason we are the worst on earth and now banned from the EU (and soon the rest of the world). See the last chart in black.
Welcome to Pathogen Prison USA. Remember when I said we are in survival mode back in early March? Well, here we are. Still.
