Via The Washington Post: Coronavirus live updates: U.S. deaths double in two days, hitting 2,000. The report and then a comment:
Breaking: Confirmed U.S. coronavirus-related deaths double in two days, hitting 2,000. It took about a month from the first confirmed death for the United States to record 1,000. That toll has risen rapidly as officials have been warning the worst is yet to come.
President Trump said Saturday he may announce later in the day a federally mandated quarantine on the New York metro region, placing “enforceable” travel restrictions on people planning to leave the New York tri-state area because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The news comes as the United States has become the epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 116,000 confirmed infections and 1,900 deaths.
Here are some significant developments:
• The outbreak in New York — the state hit hardest so far — will reach its apex in “14 to 21 days,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) anticipated. The surgeon general warned that Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago are becoming “hotspots.”
• Italy has now seen more than 10,000 coronavirus fatalities. More than 600,000 people have been infected worldwide with 30,000 total deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
• South Korea marked a new milestone, as more coronavirus patients have been discharged than those undergoing treatment.
• Following several days of back-and-forth criticism with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Trump granted her request for a disaster declaration, as well as one for Massachusetts.
To provide a little context, according to Worldometer, world cases doubled to 660,000 between March 24 (last Tuesday) and today. World deaths doubled to 30,000 between March 23 and today. To invoke a favourite premise of science fiction writers: If this goes on... Here's a very rough extrapolation, assuming 4-day doubling times for cases and 5-day doubling times for deaths:
April 1: 1,300,000 cases April 2: 60,000 deaths
April 5: 2,640,000 cases April 7: 120,000 deaths
April 9: 5,280,000 cases April 12: 240,000 deaths
Somehow I don't think America's churches will be very crowded on Easter.
And with every doubling time, governments around the world will teeter; some will stay in power only because no one is ready to replace them.
