Just to keep track of the nonsense that has wrecked our economy and generally made our politicians run around as if their fool heads were on fire, each day I publish the corona virus total death toll in the US based upon the latest data I can find. A single death is an immense tragedy if you love the person. However, we are not talking about love, but rather public policy, which should always involve a sober analysis of risk and cost. Please recall that in a bad normal flu year our death toll in the US can be as high as 90,000.
Note: this will be a total death toll since the beginning of this bad farce, and not a daily toll. As of the beginning of April 12 the death toll is 20,580 . May the Perpetual Light shine upon them. It is possible that the downward slope has begun.
I’m not the spreadsheet or chart type as some of our esteemed commenters here are, so I’ll leave the exact science of the numbers to them. My only observation is that it appears the national fatality count, taken as it is given by your source, Don, has leveled off over the past several days. In my own home county (Collin County, TX), as of today, totals and change in the past 24 hours are as follows:
Total Positive Cases
453 (+12)
Total Current Cases
191 (-17)
Total Recovered
254 (+28)
Total Deaths
8 (+1)
Hospitalized
25 (-1)
Home
166 (-16)
Negative Tests
2041 (+237)
PUMs (Persons Under Monitoring-symptomatic but no test results)
657 (+39)
(I said i’m not a number cruncher, but I can copy and paste.) 🙂
This is in a county with a population of 973,000 (estimated current.)
Governor Abbott has announced his intention to issue this week an executive order outlining a plan to restart the state’s economy over the next several weeks. The usual suspects are hyperventilating. Others such as myself are grateful. I’m sure many who lack Gov. Abbott’s courage will anxiously watch the state’s statistics for the next week or two before making such decisions themselves. I am hoping perhaps a few will actually share his willingness to trust citizens to act prudently while still getting this economy going again before it’s too late.