Thread by @BryanAlexander

@gsdiment This is terrible.

All right, I'll share some updated data.

@gsdiment Where does the #pandemic stand today?

Let me offer some current stats.

Thread.

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@gsdiment Btw, I'm working from this #covid19 resources page I launched more than a year ago:
bryanalexander.org/coronavirus/co…

I hope it's useful to other folks.

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@gsdiment Globally, the pandemic continues to spread.
The leading nation in terms of total case numbers is the United States, followed by Brazil, then India, then various European states + Russia.

coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

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@gsdiment There are now 134,308,070 confirmed #covid19 cases, according to WHO. That's about 1.7% of the human race.

Remember that this is an undercount for various reasons.

covid19.who.int

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@gsdiment The total #COVID death toll stands at 2,907,944, again according to WHO.

We are closing in - quickly - on 3 million dead.

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Like I said, different nations are experiencing varied pandemics.

India, for example, is racing towards a truly terrible situation. Infections have just exploded:

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In contrast, the United States is trying to figure out of we've going to have another big wave or not.

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In terms of #covid19 deaths Brazil is leading the world after 2 months' terrible growth.
The European Union overall follows, and is struggling to contain deaths.

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Back to the US.

According to the CDC there are now 30,897,028 total
#covid19 cases in US, or a little over 9% of the total population.

Again, this is an undercount.

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

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Total COVID deaths in the US:

558,028.

Again, that's according to CDC.

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As with the world, #covid19 spreads unevenly across the US.

Here's a county map from the @nytimes :

nytimes.com/interactive/20…

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#Michigan continues to spiral up, with total number of infections racing ahead.

It's about the same level as New York, but NY's cases look to be dropping.

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If we normalize infections by population size, #Michigan is clearly America's #covid19 epicenter.

Many of these graphs come from this dependable site: 91-divoc.com/pages/covid-vi…

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I know it's unfashionable to focus on #Michigan or the midwest in general.
There's little cultural cachet involved. No media buzz
And both national political parties clearly gave up on Michigan.

But it's important, damn it.

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When it comes to US COVID deaths, Oklahoma is in a terrible place.

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A few reflections, based on observations of the past week, and aided by my family (wife is a contract tracer, daughter a disaster planner):

Social distancing seems to be a nearly total fiction. I don't know if it was ever observed seriously at scale.

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Many people are striking bargains between money and illness or death.

At times it's a question of competing perceived survival threats.

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Beyond misinformation, there is also a chunk of America who've talked themselves into bad behavior, from going maskless to shunning vaccines.

I've seen some rationales:
"I'm too healthy to need a shot."
"Nobody I know has had it."
"Ah, the risks are overblown."

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@Laurie_Garrett has criticized the US for having a poor public health setup for years.
COVID has proved her all too correct.

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@Laurie_Garrett I'm not sure what changes we'll put in place post-pandemic. The overwhelming impetus seems to be to move on.

Not unlike 1919.

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@Laurie_Garrett I'll talk about what this means for higher ed later.

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