{"id":264,"date":"2020-07-17T11:09:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T18:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/?p=264"},"modified":"2020-07-17T11:09:33","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T18:09:33","slug":"be-better-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/17\/be-better-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Better, America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The big picture remains largely the same.  The Sun Belt and Western states\u2019 case numbers are rising quickly.  Other areas are rising more slowly, but are picking up steam.  A handful of states don\u2019t show rising numbers, they aren\u2019t concentrated in a single region.  No matter where you live, either your state or a neighboring one has rising case numbers. Still, you\u2019d probably rather be in New England than the South for now.  More detail below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday set a national record for new cases at about 78,000.  The previous record was about 67,000.  (I\u2019m using data from Johns Hopkins University.  Other trackers may show somewhat different numbers, but the pattern should be the same.)  Part of the record is due to a reporting anomaly in Texas in which 5,000 previously unreported cases were added.  However, even without that anomaly, yesterday would still have been a record.  The rise in cases is widespread.  By my count, 41 states show rising case numbers, 2 show decreasing case numbers, and the other 8 (I\u2019m treating DC as a state) are unclear.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death rates at the national level have increased from earlier in the month, but for the past week have been bouncing around in the low 700s range.  While there is little doubt that the rates will rise, I can\u2019t confidently say that they are doing so at the moment, at least at the national level.  So we\u2019ve been at a bit of a lull in a longer term rising trend.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what the numbers look like nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

States<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Florida, Texas, and California continue to have the highest numbers.\u00a0 Remember that these are the three most populous states, so they have a lot of room to grow.\u00a0 Florida is now averaging more cases per day than New York did at the height of its outbreak in April.\u00a0 Fortunately, Florida\u2019s daily death rate is still much lower than New York\u2019s was.\u00a0 However, because also has one of the highest growth rates in the nation, there is cause for concern.\u00a0 Texas has the second highest daily case average, and is also growing quickly, though not quite as quickly as Florida.\u00a0 Both states have yet to make a substantial dent in their growth.\u00a0 California, on the other hand, may be leveling off.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of noise in its recent numbers, so it\u2019s hard to be sure, but at the very least California\u2019s growth rate is much lower than Florida or Texas.\u00a0 Florida is growing at 4.5%, Texas at 3.7%, and California at 2.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s good news for Arizona as cases seem to be decreasing there.  Their death rate is still rising, but if they can continue to reduce the infection rate, the death rate will follow.  Ranking states by their 7-day case average, Arizona has fallen from 4th to 5th, trading places with Georgia.  The switch is the result both of Arizona\u2019s falling numbers and Georgia\u2019s rising numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a list of all states ordered by their 7 day average cases.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, things are rolling along pretty much as anticipated.  While not surprising, that\u2019s not good.  It means that collectively we aren\u2019t doing enough to control the spread of the virus. The virus is definitely winning at the moment.  It may be spreading somewhat less slowly than it otherwise would, and doing somewhat less damage, but it is far from being under control.  Our situation is far worse than that of our peer nations in the world.  Europe and Asia largely have the virus under control, though not eradicated.  Our closest analogs are now Brazil and India, but even those are unfair comparisons.  No other nation has made progress against the virus and then let it regain the upper hand as we have.  Not One.  We are unique in having simply walked off the field while the game was still being played.  Make whatever justification for that you wish, this is what we as a nation have decided to do.  Until we make a different decision, things will continue to get worse.  And yes, that doesn\u2019t apply just to the virus, it applies to a whole range of issues in our society.

Be better, America, be better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The big picture remains largely the same.  The Sun Belt and Western states\u2019 case numbers are rising quickly.  Other areas are rising more slowly, but are picking up steam.  A handful of states don\u2019t show rising numbers, they aren\u2019t concentrated in a single region.  No matter where you live, either your state or a neighboring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hardythoughts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}