tl;dr
- record 363 new cases/day this wk
- that's up 15% over 2wks ago
- but testing down 6% (big problem)
- record 15.1%pos
- hosp/icu at 90%
- crisis!
- white house team said we must limit gatherings to 10 ppl
- we must move to phase1 now
1/
covid projections (not predictions)
- we are growing at a 2.5% daily rate
- play that out, and today's 16k total cases doubles to 32k by aug16
- that doubles to 64k by sept13
- doubles to 128k by oct11
- doubles to 256k by nov8
- doubles to 512k by dec6
- and 1M by jan2
2/
covid case growth vs test growth
- testing is a big problem
- the shape of case growth mirrors the shape of testing growth
- but it's just false to say that case growth is caused by testing
- you can clearly see that cases are growing much faster (74% faster, in fact)
3/
hospitalization
- note that we are in the RED for both acute care beds and icu beds
- we have plenty of surge capacity, but it's clearly bad if you have to use that
- the goal should to prevent the spread of the virus, not if we can respond when ppl get sick
4/
race/ethnicity
- the reason it's so important to change the goal to prevention is bc ppl are dying, Black & Latinx ppl in particular
- Black & Latinx Memphians are disproportionately impacted
- allowing the virus to spread is racist, period
5/
risk level
- but the virus continues to spread nonetheless
- in fact, it's out of control
- according to harvard global health, stay-at-home orders are necessary at 25 daily cases per 100k ppl
- we passed that 2wks ago
- we're at 37.8 per 100k
6/
total covid cases, linear scale
- you can see the graph of cases continue to rise off the trendline
- and look at the shape of the graph, watch how it curves up
- that's bad, that's exponential growth
7/
total covid cases, log scale
- remember "flatten the curve"?
- does this curve look flat to you?
- again, exponential growth
- this is bad
8/
total covid tests
- meanwhile, you can see that the graph of total tests stays pretty close to the linearly trendline
9/
new covid cases per day
- on may18, we had 60 new cases/day
- on june18, we were at 153
- on july18, we're up to 428
- that's just incredible (and scary) growth
10/
covid tests per day
- meanwhile, testing is not keeping up with case growth
- may18, 1432 tests/day
- june18, 1663
- july18, 2882
- testing has doubled in the past two months
- that sounds good, but we have 7x as many new cases
11/
total covid cases per wk
- we set a new record at 2542
- up 25% over last wk
- up 15% over 2wks ago, previous high
- up 98% over 4wks ago
- up 369% over wk of phase2
- up 423% over wk of phase1
12/
total covid tests per wk
- up 13% over last wk
- but down 6% over 2wks ago
- up 34% over 4wks ago
- up 47% over wk of phase2
- up 106% over wk of phase1
- compare this w/case growth above
- testing is just not keeping up
- this is a huge problem
13/
avg new covid cases/day per wk
- we added 363 cases each day this wk
- for context, we had just 486 cases the entire wk of may3, the wk we reopened to phase1
14/
avg covid tests/day per wk
- first, look at the slope of the trendline here compared to the slope of the trendline of cases above
- then look at how this wk sits right on the trendline for tests, but lifts far above the trendline for cases
- testing just can't keep up
15/
covid positivity rate
- another record high wk, at 15.1%
- the bar for containing the virus is 3%
- anything above 10% means we are missing a significant number of cases
- and that means ppl are walking around spreading the virus
16/
covid positivity rate
- we've been over 10% for 19 straight days, since jun30
- we were over 15% five days this wk (and one day was 14.9%)
- overall pos is up to 9.4%, highest since apr21
- 1wk ago, 8.8%
- 2wks, 8.3%
- 3wks, 7.6%
- 4wks, 7.3%
17/
risk levels
- this from @GeorgiaTech is really helpful
- gather 100 ppl & there's a 99% chance someone has covid
- gather 50, it's 90%
- gather 25, it's 69%
- gather 10, it's 38%
18/
i wish i could include a screenshot of the back to biz dashboard
- but the website no longer exists
- it went offline as soon as we hit RED for every indicator
daily cases per 100k ppl
- the RED section is where harvard global health says stay-at-home orders are necessary
- we've been in the RED for over 2wks now
- we *must* get back down to the YELLOW
- and that means moving back to phase1
20/
positivity rate
- harvard's bar for suppression is 3%
- to get there, we need 5x more testing
- we avg'd 2,409 tests/day this wk, with 15.1%pos
- we'd need 3,650 to get down under 10%pos
- we'd need 7,400 to get under 5%pos
- we'd need 12,500 to get under 3%pos
21/
reopening schools
- without meeting those 2 data points (under 10 daily cases per 100k + under 3%pos), we can't even discuss reopening schools
22/
the white house sent a team to shelby county last week
- our leaders didn't tell us what was said
- but fortunately the recs leaked
- and the recs say we should limit gatherings to 10 ppl
- you can't have school if you can't gather more than 10 ppl
23/
join memphis/shelby united to demand safe schools
WHAT: social distance sit-in
WHEN: tueday, july21, 4:00pm
WHERE: scs board of ed parking lot
WHY: protect students, families, teachers, staff
24/
if you appreciate my work, please donate something to @LifeLineSuccess. i will personally vouch for @ministerdbrown & @mrsvjbrown. i've partnered with them for over 10 yrs now.
they need new mowers & are almost 1/3 the way there.
tl;dr
* case rate, 255 per 100k
* 2,396 new cases/day (26,328 active cases)
* 475 pediatric cases/day (5,098 active)
* 41.7% positivity rate
* hospitalizations, nearly doubled
* but deaths are staying low, at least for now
1/
Let's start with case rate.
I had to adjust the limits of the vertical axis - again - bc cases have continued to explode.
Before this wave, the previous high was right at 90 avg daily cases per 100,000 people.
Last wk: 181 per 100k.
Now: 255 per 100k.
2/
Remember back when Harvard's Global Health Institute said that stay-at-home orders were necessary to control the spread once we reached 25 per 100k?
tl;dr
* 202 cases/day (most in 10wks)
* 5.7%+ (highest in 9wks)
* 55 pediatric cases/day (most in 10wks)
* hospitalizations are rising, but slowly
* 22 deaths reported this wk (lowest in 3wks)
1/
After falling down to 8.4 avg daily cases per 100,000 people in early November, our case rate has climbed up to 19.2 per 100k, more than doubling in the past 6wks.
2/
While cases are rising, we're in a much better place than we were at last year at this time.
Today, we're avg'ing 202 cases/day.
A year ago, that was 869 cases/day, more than 4x higher.
tl;dr
* 176 cases/day (highest in 9wks)
* 5.4% positive (highest in 8wks)
* testing is up, but cases are up more
* 82 deaths so far in Dec (vs 68 all of Nov)
* hospitalizations are up, but only slightly
1/
After falling down to 8.4 avg daily cases per 100,000 people in early November, our case rate has climbed up to 18.8 per 100k, more than doubling in just 5wks.
2/
At this point last year, though, we were avg'ing nearly 3x more cases per day (482) than we are now (176).
But our Summer surge this year started later than it did last year - and it peaked far higher.
Will the same will happen with Winter? (Who knows?)
Today is Veterans Day, but it used to be called Armistice Day. And it was a mistake to change the name. We should celebrate peace, we should celebrate the end of war, not war itself.
Kurt Vonnegut, born on this day, would agree.
Vonnegut was himself a veteran. He dropped out of college to enlist & serve in WWII. Taken prisoner by the Germans, he survived the bombing of Dresden.
In Breakfast of Champions, he wrote about the name-change from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. It's worth reading today.
"When I was a boy...all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
tl;dr
* The positive trends in the data continue
* And now kids are vax eligible!
* But vax locations are problematic
* Also, we appear to be plateauing
* What's in store for the Winter?
1/
Since October just ended, let's look back at monthly trends.
* Avg daily cases dropped 73%, from 554 to 149
* Positivity dropped from 16.0% to 5.1%
* Deaths were up slightly to 194 (remember, this is a lagging indicator)
* New vax's dropped to record-lows
2/
Here, you can see this year compared to last year.
At this time last year, cases were about 3x higher than they are now.
But the summer peak happened later this year, as did the fall drop. At this point last year, cases had already been rising for a month.