A thing to bear in mind about this is that 9/11 was a one-day spike. This is an ongoing situation.
And a thing that I think about when I read things like that and then look at the numbers of known/confirmed cases... all of the myriad people who called a doctor or 911 or went into a clinic with symptoms and were told, look, no test, just assume you're infected? Uncounted.
Not just the asymptomatic carriers walking around with no idea they have anything other than mild seasonal allergies or whatever. People who are sick and treating themselves at home, lying in bed coughing or struggling to breath. Uncounted.
The number of known covid-19 deaths in the US is currently doubling slightly faster than every three days. Whatever the number is today, that's about how many people I expect to die in the next three days. Known deaths from known cause, anyway.
We might see that shaky trajectory bend in either direction, downward as the efforts in the known hotspots bear fruit... or upward the hidden blooms blossoming across the untested sections of the country begin to bear fruit.
I'm very worried about the spread in rural areas, which are less dense and have fewer wealthy globetrotters popping through them, but also have fewer healthcare resources than big urban centers.
