It looks to me like we’re about to see a second wave of infections in the US digging deeper into the smaller cities and regions. I’m expecting to see the same kind of thing to happen in other countries. But for the moment a focus on the well documented cases in teh US,
While we’re incredibly lucky to have the workable leadership during a crisis (ie it wasn’t the dithering National party), it is worth looking elsewhere to to look at what actually works. But the US is like a smorgasbord of differing jurisdictions with differing approaches.
Looking at the the daily roundup article from the Washington Post “As coronavirus infections surge nationwide, 21 states see increase in average daily new cases“, just look at the states where it has been happening the fastest.
Alabama, Oregon and South Carolina are among the states with the biggest increases. Alabama saw a 92 percent change in its seven-day average, while Oregon’s seven-day average was up 83.8 percent and South Carolina’s was up 60.3 percent. Hospitalizations have risen as well. For example, Arkansas has seen a 120.7 percent increase in hospitalizations, from 92 cases to 203, since Memorial Day.
None of those states have been heavily hit to date. But it now looks like the virus has managed to get a substantial foothold into some of the less densely populated states far from the international transport hubs.
But there are also indications that even in those states that were hit earlier, the less populated urban centres and counties are now becoming hotspots.
Washington state health officials warned Saturday that coronavirus transmission is increasing in the eastern part of the state. Benton, Franklin, Spokane and Yakima counties are of greatest concern and could see “increasingly explosive growth” in cases and deaths if the current rate of transmission continues.
You can see the same happening in other countries. The most obvious, after 50 days virus free..
Beijing’s biggest meat and vegetable market was shut down after the discovery of a cluster of coronavirus cases, raising the prospect of a second wave of infections.
There were dozens of people who tested positive, most were asymptomatic and were only picked up in testing.
When you look at what works. Well this is pretty obvious. @01:20pm “Maryland fines two dozen nursing homes for covid-19 reporting failures”.
Maryland has fined at least two dozen nursing homes for failing to provide information on covid-19 cases and deaths to state health officials, violating an executive order issued by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in April.
Compliance with reporting, which stood at about 50 percent before the fines began, had jumped to 98 percent by Saturday, said Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary for public health.
Maryland is currently in the first 18 states with high levels of cases. Many have come from the aged care sector.
The numbers are pretty depressing – especially when you look at single day figures.
A dozen states hit their record-high seven-day-average of new cases: Alabama, Oregon, South Carolina, Florida, Alaska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, Arkansas, California, North Carolina and Texas. Five states reached new single-day case highs Saturday: Alabama (888), Alaska (29), Florida (2,581), Oklahoma (225) and South Carolina (785).
Florida in particular will be interesting. It is gearing up for the Republican convention in August.
An increase of coronavirus cases in counties with fewer than 60,000 people is part of the trend of infections surging across the rural United States. Health experts worry those areas, already short of resources before the pandemic, will struggle to track new cases.
But on the good news
In New York, meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Saturday reported the hard-hit state’s lowest number of new coronavirus deaths since the pandemic’s start. “We have tamed the beast,” he declared at a news conference.
Contrast that with New Zealand. There is an Op-ed “As the pandemic rages on, I’m grateful to be in almost-normal New Zealand“.
This week, as New Zealand celebrates being covid-19 free after 1,504 cases and just 22 deaths and almost-normal life resumes inside the country, I am still grateful — to be able to hike again, to travel around the country again, even to take the train to work again. But, as at the beginning of this journey, that feeling is tinged with sadness. As we talk to our loved ones and read the daily headlines from the United States — with at least 111,000 deaths — we’re reminded that the pain and struggle back home are far from over.
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