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canyonwalkerIt's Tuesday* so it's time for my weekly check of Coronavirus statistics. ...Today is actually Wednesday, of course, but I'm going by the latest statistics reported as of Tuesday. The headline news, reflected in many actual headlines, is that the rate of new Covid-19 cases is way down over the past month. But don't let the simplistic headline fool you. We're not out of the woods yet.
The good news is that Tuesday's new cases were 115,509 with a 7-day average of 140,204. (Source: New York Times Coronavirus in the U.S., retrieved 16 Feb 2022) These figures are less than one-fifth those of the peak of Omicron's surge one month ago. On Jan. 15 the 7-day average topped out just over 805,000.
The not-as-good news, and the reason we're not out of the woods yet, is that the surge is not done with us. Tuesday's figures remain higher than before the start of the Omicron/winter holiday surge. In late November, when Omicron made all the headlines as it was first detected in the US, the daily average of new cases was below 90,000. And the infection rates remain 10x what they were during last summer's low, when the daily rate averaged less than 12,000.
Also not-good news is that the death rate remains high. 2,328 deaths due to Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday, continuing a trend of over 2k a day that has persisted the past few weeks. The total death toll in the US stands at 923,809.
But, hey, the infection rate is coming down, so even if we're not out of the woods yet, we will be soon, right? ...Er, maybe not. Infection numbers are dropping, but health precautions are, too. Most of California drops its mask-wearing requirement as of today. Other states have done the same recently or will soon. Understand that relaxing these measures puts us back to the same situation that allowed the surge to happen. Omicron could surge again or some new variant or sub-variant could emerge and rip through the US.
The good news is that Tuesday's new cases were 115,509 with a 7-day average of 140,204. (Source: New York Times Coronavirus in the U.S., retrieved 16 Feb 2022) These figures are less than one-fifth those of the peak of Omicron's surge one month ago. On Jan. 15 the 7-day average topped out just over 805,000.
The not-as-good news, and the reason we're not out of the woods yet, is that the surge is not done with us. Tuesday's figures remain higher than before the start of the Omicron/winter holiday surge. In late November, when Omicron made all the headlines as it was first detected in the US, the daily average of new cases was below 90,000. And the infection rates remain 10x what they were during last summer's low, when the daily rate averaged less than 12,000.
Also not-good news is that the death rate remains high. 2,328 deaths due to Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday, continuing a trend of over 2k a day that has persisted the past few weeks. The total death toll in the US stands at 923,809.
But, hey, the infection rate is coming down, so even if we're not out of the woods yet, we will be soon, right? ...Er, maybe not. Infection numbers are dropping, but health precautions are, too. Most of California drops its mask-wearing requirement as of today. Other states have done the same recently or will soon. Understand that relaxing these measures puts us back to the same situation that allowed the surge to happen. Omicron could surge again or some new variant or sub-variant could emerge and rip through the US.
