COVID-19 Compilation: Part 15 - June 21-27, 2020
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| COVID-19 Hospitalizations in Texas, as of June 26, 2020. From Texas Department Department of State Health Services. |
This blog post compiles the period of June 21st through June 27th. I have corrected some typos, augmented with links to original sources, and used some basic html to improve formatting; otherwise these are presented as-is from the original posts.
JUNE 21:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Worldwide, there were 130,254 new COVID-19 cases today, and 3,338 deaths. In the US, there were 26,079 new cases and 267 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.04 million cases and 469,604 deaths, with 2.36 million cases and 122,247 deaths in the US.
Today's US death total is the lowest since March 23rd.
Normal disclaimers for Sunday reporting apply.
Yesterday, Donald Trump held an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. About 6,200 people showed up, the vast majority appeared to be maskless and not maintaining social distancing. Although the crowd size ended up being far smaller than some earlier projections, this still amounts to a de facto petri dish experiment. Were these people increasing their risk of contracting or passing the virus as result of attending the rally? It may be several days, or even weeks, before we know the answers from the data.
To those who simply assume that this event will be a super spreader that causes a spike, it may be worth noting that if the attendees went maskless in the arena, and not maintaining social distancing in the arena, there's a fair likelihood they have already been going maskless and not maintaining social distancing elsewhere.
Also, there was a new daily record for cases in Oklahoma today, with 478.
A lead CNN headline reads, "More young people across the South are testing positive for coronavirus, officials warn." That the virus is now hitting predominantly younger populations was the main theme of my post two nights ago.
Perhaps it also helps explain the continuing lowering of the death rates, which I first examined on June 7th: If the demographics have now shifted with respect to age groups, and younger age groups die less frequently, then the overall case fatality rate will also go down, irrespective of improvements in treatments or other factors.
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,033,193 Cases and 469,539 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 22:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Worldwide, there were 138,975 new COVID-19 cases today, and 3,880 deaths. In the US, there were 31,496 new cases and 363 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.18 million cases and 473,484 deaths, with 2.39 million cases and 122,610 deaths in the US.
In the United States, California and Texas both passed 5,000 new cases on a single day for the first time, with 5,528 and 5,112 cases, respectively. They join New York as the only states to have as many as 5,000 cases in a single day, but the last time that happened in New York was on April 26th.
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,130,896 Cases and 472,249 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 23:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Worldwide, there were 162,994 new COVID-19 cases today, and 5,465 deaths. In the US, there were 36,015 new cases and 863 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.35 million cases and 478,939 deaths, with 2.42 million cases and 123,473 deaths in the US.
In the United States, California and Texas both set new records again, as did Arizona. California had 6,503 cases, as usual overwhelmingly concentrated in Southern California. Texas had 5,370 new cases, and Arizona had 3,593 new cases.
One of the markers for re-opening is the resumption of sports. In Tennis, the world's number 1 men's player, Novak Djokovic, organized the Adria Tour in Croatia. Djokovic, a noted COVID-19 skeptic, had organized the charity tour in order to raise money for people in his homeland impacted by COVID-19.
The final match between Djokovic and Andrev Rublev of the tour's 2nd event in Zadar was canceled after another top player, Grigor Dimitrov, tested positive for COVID-19.
Since then, Djokovic himself has tested positive, as has his wife. The event had fans filling the stands, no social distancing, no face masks. Djokovic has apologized, but now we're left to stay tuned for the seemingly inevitable spike in cases.
Similarly, in the US several Division 1 college football teams started practicing about 2 weeks ago... and have started getting positive tests results. National Champion LSU has placed at least 30 players in isolation because they either tested positive for COVID-19 or had contact with those who tested positive. National finalist Clemson has had 23 players test positive. Texas has had 13 test positive. Florida has had 11. Kansas State and Houston both suspended workouts due to a large number of positive tests.
At LSU, senior associated athletic trainer Shelley Mullenix commented, "The story is that it’s exactly what we said it would be. We were prepared from the get-go for a lot of virus. The good news is we’re seeing subtle virus illness.”
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,329,212 Cases and 478,587 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 24:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Worldwide, there were 173,100 new COVID-19 cases today, and 5,071 deaths. In the US, there were 39,103 new cases and 808 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.52 million cases and 483,959 deaths, with 2.46 million cases and 124,281 deaths in the US.
Several countries had new records for cases today, including:
| Country | Number of Cases |
| USA | 39,103 |
| India | 16,870 |
| Mexico | 6,288 |
| South Africa | 5,688 |
| Colombia | 3,541 |
| Argentina | 2,635 |
| Iraq | 2,200 |
In the United States, the following states had new records for cases today:
| State | Number of Cases |
| Texas | 6,177 |
| Florida | 5,511 |
| North Carolina | 2,384 |
| South Carolina | 1,284 |
As noted above, the US case count today is a new record.
To put it a bit in perspective, compare the US to the 27 member states of European Union. The EU has about 445 million people, or about 35% more than the US. The EU has about 250 people per square mile, overall, as compared to about 110 people per square mile in the US.
In the EU today, there were 3,015 new COVID-19 cases, and 174 deaths from COVID-19.
ADDENDUM: After hours, worldometers case numbers were adjusted downward by 717 cases for the US, to 38,386. The cases were all in North Carolina. Thus, per worldometers, the single day record reverts to 39,072, set on April 24th. The adjusted number in North Carolina is 1,667, which is not a new record for that state; it is the 4th highest. The worldwide case number was also adjusted downward by the same amount, to 172,383.
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,516,907 Cases and 483,917 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 25:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Worldwide, there were 179,521 new COVID-19 cases today, and 5,178 deaths. In the US, there were 40,184 new cases and 649 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.70 million cases and 490,988 deaths, with 2.50 million cases and 126,780 deaths in the US.
China announced testing numbers for the first time yesterday: 90,410,000 total tests since the start of the pandemic. If that number is correct, then China has performed more tests than any other country.
The US passed 40,000 cases in a single day for the first time today.
Also in the US, New Jersey reported 1,854 probable COVID-19 deaths that had not previously been reported. Per a report on nj.com, "The updated death toll includes 1,854 deaths deemed likely from COVID-19, though not confirmed by a test." With the additional cases added, New Jersey now has the most total deaths per capita of any state in the USA, at 1,690 per million. New York has 1,613 per million.
The situation in Texas has become sufficiently dire that Governor Greg Abbott announced a "temporary pause" of any further re-opening of the state. In Houston, LBJ Hospital is at 120% of ICU capacity and transferring patients to other hospitals; Texas Medical Center, which bills itself as "the largest medical city in the world," is at 97% of ICU capacity.
Overall, Texas hospitalizations from COVID-19 shot up another 8% today to a record 4,739. This is the thirteenth consecutive new record for COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas. Overall, Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations have more than tripled in the past month.
Keeping in mind that there is a delay between exposure to the virus and hospitalization, and that a "pause" doesn't shut down anything that's already open, it seems inevitable that the situation in Texas -- and in other states that are seeing case and hospitalization spikes -- will become much worse in the near term.
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,649,499 Cases and 487,800 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 26:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
Florida. In my summary on March 30th, I wrote, "New York, at least, is showing a slowing rate of of expansion; the 6,646 new cases there were in line with most recent days. New York has also dramatically ramped up testing. Less so in Florda, which has tested at only a small fraction of New York's rate, which stayed open for Spring Break and still doesn't have a statewide shutdown, and which is showing every sign of an imminent catastrophic rise in cases."
The next day, March 31st, Florida had 1,000 cases on a single day for the first time.
On April 19th, I wrote, "Initial photographs from the Florida beaches suggest that Floridian beachgoers are not showing nearly the same level of caution wrt social distancing that Wisconsinite voters showed 12 days ago. We have little choice now but to observe how that plays out."
On May 20th, prominent conservative write Rich Lowry wrote a piece for "The National Review" titled, "Where Does [Florida Governor] Ron DeSantis Go to Get His Apology?" The subhead read, "The Florida governor explains a COVID-19 strategy that has gotten bad press and favorable results." Lowry boldly asserted, "The conventional wisdom has begun to change about Florida, as the disaster so widely predicted hasn’t materialized."
It took longer than many of us expected, but the widely predicted disaster has arrived.
Florida reported 8,942 new cases today. That's an increase of more than 2,200% over the past 30 days. It's more than 60% above the previous high, set on Wednesday.
Rebekah Jones, who claims to have been fired from her job in charge of the state's COVID-19 database for refusing to manipulate the data, is claiming on Twitter: "I have multiple sources at DOH who have just told me they have been instructed this week to change the numbers and begin slowly deleting deaths and cases so it looks like Florida is improving next week in the leadup to July 4, like they've 'made it over the hump.'"
Florida has also stopped reporting ICU numbers this week. The reality may be even worse than the official reports.
Worldwide, there were a record 193,964 new COVID-19 cases today, and 4,891 deaths. In the US, there were a record 47,341 new cases and 663 deaths.
Worldwide cumulative totals are now 9.90 million cases and 496,077 deaths, with 2.55 million cases and 127,640 deaths in the US.
Worldwide totals will likely surpass 10 million cases and 500,000 deaths tomorrow.
see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more
Coronavirus Update (Live): 9,827,533 Cases and 494,470 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer
JUNE 27:
this past day's COVID-19 stats summary:
There were 176,568 new COVID-19 cases today, including 43,581 in the USA. Cumulative totals are now 10,075,115 worldwide, including 2,596,537 in the USA.
There were 4,547 COVID-19 deaths worldwide, including 512 in the USA. Cumulative totals are now 500,626 worldwide, including 128,152 in the USA.
For the week, there were 1,160,206 new cases worldwide, including 263,200 in the USA. Both are easily new records; the prior US weekly record was 223,017, set 11 weeks ago.
There were 32,407 deaths worldwide this week, including 4,158 in the USA. Both numbers are down from last week. For the USA, this is the 10th consecutive week of declining death numbers, but it is the smallest decline in 9 weeks.
The table below shows the cases and deaths for the hardest hit states (in terms of current case count) for the last week of May, as compared to the last week of June. The states with exponentially rising case numbers are also starting to see deaths trend upward. Within the very near future, this is likely to be the national trend as well.
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| Deaths have started trending upward in several states. |
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