This is just a quick update to drive home the point that COVID infections are not just at record highs, they are also accelerating.
Yesterday saw 121,888 new cases. That’s 19,000 more cases than the day before and 32,000 more than the previous Thursday. It brings the 7-day average up to 94,626. There were 1,210 deaths reported, bringing that 7-day average up to 895. It appears that deaths are also starting to accelerate.
Keep in mind that 7-day averages are lagging indicators, they tell us what has been going on in the past. In a rapidly accelerating situation they will under-report the current state of affairs. Imagine having a speedometer in your car that reported your average speed over the last 7 seconds. That might be OK when your speed is relatively stable. However, it will be lower than your current speed when you stomp on the gas pedal and higher than your current speed when you slam on the brakes.
Here’s the shortened graph starting Aug1 so that you can see the acceleration more clearly.
Fridays’ numbers tend to be higher than Thursdays’. I’ll post a longer update sometime in the next few days.