Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr: We're In Trouble
* Cases, +193% over 1wk, to 94/day (10/100k)
* Positivity, more than doubled, from 3.8% to 7.8%
* Infection rate, 1.22, highest since June 2020
* Hospitalizations are on the rise
* Vax, record-lows

1/
Look at this huge spike: avg daily cases are up 193% in just 1wk!

Meanwhile, tests are -26% and are under 1k/day for the first time since April 2020.

2/
Look at how daily cases have spiked to levels we've not seen since May.

There were 155 new cases reported today, after 142 yesterday. The last time we even hit 100 was May 20. The last time we topped 155 was 159 on May 14.

3/
Here are weekly cases. And you can see just how huge the spike is this week, not just compared to last week, but compared to anytime in over a month.

+193%, 1wk
+251%, 2wks
+142%, 4wks
+17%, 6wks

4/
And as you can see, our case rate is back up to the yellow, right at 10 avg daily cases per 100,000 people.

That in itself is bad enough, but look at how steep the increase is. That's exponential growth.

5/
Look at this graph of total cases since vaccines became available to the public.

First, you can see the curve start to bend down in Feb, hold steady in Mar/Apr, then bend down again in May/June. But look at how quickly the curve starts rising in July.

6/
Here's the log scale, if anyone's interested in that. Again, look at July, on the right side, and see how it starts to lift pretty sharply.

7/
And with the positivity rate rising rapidly, we are very likely missing cases.

For 5wks, positivity was low. But this week it spiked up to 7.8%, the highest since the wk of Jan31.

8/
By the way, this is esp dangerous to those who are still not vax'd. But if you are not vax'd & have not had covid, your risk level is just incredibly high.

The case rate for that group is an astounding 38.8 per 100k.

9/
But we set a new low in vaccinations this week, with just 3161 new people vaccinated, fewer than 500 per day.

This is a huge problem. And it would help if the FDA would give full authorization to the vaccines.



10/
Covid hospitalizations are up too.

As you can see, the number of covid patients is still low, under 100. But it's up nearly 70% in the past few weeks. And these are much younger patients than in the past.

11/
Deaths remain low, which is not surprising.

On the one hand, the risk of death is much higher for older ppl, but most older ppl have been vax'd. Those who have not, though, are in big danger.

But death is a lagging indicator. We won't see an increase for a few wks.

12/
With the delta variant, we'll likely need over 80% community immunity to stop the spread.

Currently, 42% of ppl have immunity from vax & roughly 32% have immunity from infection. But at least 5% have both.

So we're below 70%. And we need to get over 80%.

13/
What's really scary is that, over the past wk, we're seeing vaccinated ppl being admitted into the hospital with covid.

Dr. Threlkeld even said they've seen a few deaths from middle-aged & older adults who were vax'd.

But that's very rare.

wmcactionnews5.com/video/2021/07/…

14/
The viral load for delta is 1,000x higher than previous strains. This is why it is so infectious.

And this is why even those of us who are vax'd need to take precautions, especially in crowded indoor spaces.



15/
On the whole, though, vaccinations work. They remain highly effective, even against the delta strain.

In fact, the more ppl get vax'd, the more effective they are. So spread the gospel of covid vaccinations!



16/
Reason to exercise even more caution than the past couple months:

"The reproduction rate is at 1.22 which is the highest since June 2020."

wmcactionnews5.com/2021/07/08/she…

17/
Let our neighbors across the river in Arkansas serve as a warning for us...



18/
And our neighbors across the border in Mississippi too.

They are recommending that all ppl over 65 yrs old, even if vax'd, avoid large gatherings.



19/
This is the bottom-line:

The longer we let covid spread, not just in the US but around the world, the more dangerous it becomes for everyone.

Vax'd ppl are pretty safe right now. But if we don't get more ppl vax'd, we're in trouble.



20/20

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More from @firstresponses

19 Jun
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr
* Cases up 28% over 1wk to 50/day (5.3 per 100k), infection rate over 1.0, as the Delta variant spreads
* Positivity steady at 3.6%+
* Only 1 death, the lowest since March 2020
* Vaccinations up from last wk, even w/prior 2wks

1/ Image
Here's the infection rate, which has risen from 0.76 at the end of May to 0.98 as of a week ago and are likely up to 1.09 now.

Remember, spread takes off once it passes the 1.0 bar. And we've seen big spikes each time 1.1 is surpassed. So this is definitely concerning.

2/ Image
Cases are up to 50/day, up 28% from last week and 11% from the week before.

3/ Image
Read 22 tweets
5 Jun
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr
* The Good: Record-lows for infection rate, case rate, & positivity rate. Also, hospitalizations & deaths are down after a brief post-Easter spike. Could we be at herd immunity?

*The Bad: Vaccinations are nearly at record-lows.

1/
Monthly Overview

* Cases: 111/day in May, lowest in the past yr apart from the 106/day in March
* Positivity: 6.0%, lowest in the past yr except the 4.6% in March
* Deaths: 56, lowest in the past yr except 50 in Apr
* Vax: 1523/day, the lowest on record (Feb has fewer days)

2/
Case Rate

We're down to 4.8 per 100k ppl.

And we've been under 10 per 100k for 4wks now.

This is the first time we've had sustained success. Not just progress, but actual success over time.

3/
Read 19 tweets
8 May
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr
* Vax: < 9k new ppl (-73%, 4wks)
* Vax: 322k total (34% of pop)
* Case Rate: 14.0 per 100k (+20%, 4wks)
* Positivity Rate: 6.2%+ (4.9%, 4wks ago)
* Hospitalizations: ~210 (+50%, 4wks)
* Deaths: 9 this wk (15 or less, 9wks)

1/
Let's start with deaths. Bc deaths show how incredibly effective the vaccines are.

In the 9wks of Jan-Feb, we avg'd 68 covid deaths per wk.

In the 9wks since, in Mar-May, we've avg'd 12 per wk, with a high of 15.

This is huge. Vaccines work. Vaccines save lives.

2/
But we are really struggling to get ppl vax'd now. This wk was 19% lower than last wk, 33% lower than the wk before, and 73% lower than 4wks ago.

This was the 5th consecutive wk that new ppl vax'd was lower than the previous wk.

We have to find a way to reverse this trend.

4/
Read 16 tweets
24 Apr
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr: I'm Concerned
* Vax: 13k new ppl (-45%)
* Vax: 300k total (32% of pop)
* Case Rate: 15.0 per 100k (-19%)
* Positivity Rate: 6.5%+ (down from 6.5%)
* Hospitalizations: ~150 (up slightly)
* Deaths: 14 this wk (up slightly)

1/
Fortunately, cases fell this week, but we need cases to fall much more - and much more rapidly. As you can see, the curve is still bent upwards.

We've proven, multiple times, that we can flatten the curve. Let's do it again before things get out of control.

2/
Case Rate

The Goal: < 10 daily cases per 100,000 ppl
The Data: 15.0 per 100k & falling

It's a race of the vaccines vs the variants. It's been back-and-forth now for a few weeks, but fortunately the variants stumbled this week.

3/
Read 24 tweets
17 Apr
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr: I'm Concerned
* Case Rate: 18.7 per 100k (+61%)
* Positivity Rate: 7.3%+ (up from 4.9%)
* Hospitalizations: ~145 (up slightly)
* Deaths: 11 this wk (flat)
* Vax: 23k new ppl (-28%)
* Vax: 290k total (31% of pop)

1/ Image
The first thing to note is that we are, once again, un-bending the curve.

We've proven, over & over again, that we can flatten the curve. And then we've seen, over & over again, what happens when we loosen up too soon.

2/ ImageImage
Case Rate

The Goal: < 10 daily cases per 100,000 ppl
The Data: 18.7 per 100k & rising

Right now, the variants are winning the race against the vaccines.

3/ Image
Read 19 tweets
10 Apr
Memphis/Shelby County
Covid Wk-In-Review

tl;dr
* Case Rate: 11.6 per 100k, flat
* Postivity Rate: 4.9%, down
* Hospitalizations: ~140, flat
* Deaths: 11 this wk, down
* Vax: 32k new ppl vax'd, 266k total (28%)
* Vax: 29k new ppl fully vax'd, 150k total

1/
Case Rate

The Goal: < 10 daily cases per 100,000 ppl
The Data: 11.6 per 100k, holding steady

Right now, the variants & the vax are at a standstill.

2/
But the susceptible population is shrinking rapidly, as tens of thousands of people are vaccinated each week.

And the case rate of non-vax'd people is now up to 18.8 per 100k.

If you are not vax'd, please go get vax'd as soon as possible.

3/
Read 18 tweets

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