COVID-19 Compilation: Part 30 - October 13-24, 2020

 On March 14th, I began posting COVID-19 updates to my facebook page, regarding the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have used data from worldometer as a primary source for daily and cumulative data, with frequent supplementation from various national and local sites. 

This blog post compiles the period of October 13th through 24th. see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ for more

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 13

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	38.37 million	314,115	1.090 million	4,997
USA	8.09 million	51,536	220,873	843

Per worldometer, the USA passed 8 million total cases today.

Colorado and Wisconsin set new single day records for cases. Wisconsin also set a single day record for COVID-19 deaths.

 

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 14

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	38.75 million	382,433	1.096 million	6,076
USA	8.15 million	59,694	221,843	970

This past Saturday, the University of Florida Gators football team lost a football game at Texas A&M University before an announced crowd of 24,709, or a bit less than 25% of the stadium's capacity. Several reports suggested the actual crowd size was considerably larger.

Florida coach Dan Mullen said, after the game: “Our governor has passed a rule that we’re allowed to pack The Swamp. We have 90,000 in The Swamp to give us that home-field advantage that Texas A&M had today.”

On Monday, Mullen added: "If you look at what we've been able to do, the safety precautions that we have, that our players have followed, our coaches follow, our staff follows, I think we're a model of safety with what we've been doing during this time period, so I'm really proud of how we've handled everything, and how safe we've been with everything we're been doing and all the precautions we've had in place during this time... Absolutely want to see 90,000 in The Swamp."

Today, Saturday's game between Florida and Louisiana State University at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, aka "The Swamp," was postponed until December 12th after at least 21 Gators players tested positive for COVID-19. Several other players were already under quarantine or unavailable due to injury. As a result, the University of Florida football team did not come close to meeting the Southeastern Conference Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force stipulation that at least 53 scholarship players be available to play.

Per University of Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin: "Really have no obvious answers about the origin of the spread, but there is suspicion that the trip last weekend to College Station [to play at Texas A&M] was likely at the root of it. And again, a lot of this is anecdotal. A couple of our athletes who have tested positive coming back from that trip subsequently reported that later last week they had what they thought was allergy-like symptoms. One of them was congested and had a headache. They did not report their symptoms as we have an expectation to do so, because they thought it was just seasonal timing of cold, allergies, or whatever. There's suspicion too that that also helped this spread.”

Elsewhere in college football today, Alabama coach Nick Saban, who has led six national championship NCAA football teams, tested positive for COVID-19. Alabama's Athletic Director Greg Byrne also tested positive. Reports say the they are not symptomatic, and no players are reported to have tested positive.

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 15

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	39.15 million	391,181	1.10 million	6,106
USA	8.22 million	66,129	222,717	874

For the 2nd consecutive day, a new world record for cases today. France surpassed 30,000 cases in a single day for the first time.

 

Some countries with new single-day highs today:
Country	Cases Today
France	30,621
Argentina	17,096
Czechia	9,720
Belgium	8,271
Poland	8,009
Netherlands	7,791
Germany	7,074
Jordan	2,459
Slovakia	1,929
Austria	1,552
Lebanon	1,499
Armenia	1,371
Georgia	919
Bulgaria	914
Slovenia	793
Slovenia	745

Meanwhile, the USA had its highest total case number since July 31st.

Before today, the longest standing state record was Michigan, where the single day record had been set on April 3rd. That record fell today.

 

States with new highs for COVID-19 cases today:
State	Cases Today
Wisconsin	3,747
Missouri	3,357
North Carolina	2,532
Michigan	2,458
Ohio	2,177
Indiana	1,943
Arkansas	1,278
Colorado	1,141
Montana	723
North Dakota	705
New Mexico	655

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 16

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	39.57 million	412,917	1.109 million	6,185
USA	8.29 million	71,687	223,644	928

Today is the first day with more than 400,000 cases worldwide.

The USA is over 70,000 cases for the first time since July.

13 states had new single day highs today.

Perhaps the most startling is North Dakota, with 864 new cases. The total population of North Dakota is 762,062. That means that one out of every 882 people in North Dakota got a positive test result, today. 1.1% of the population of North Dakota has tested positive for COVID-19 so far in October. A bit more than 4% of the North Dakota population has tested positive since the start of the pandemic.

Keep in mind, of course, that the actual number of people who have had COVID-19 is many times greater than the reported positive tests, as most people never get tested unless they have symptoms. It's entirely possible that close to half of all North Dakota residents have, or have had, COVID-19.

North Dakota also set a new state record for COVID-19 deaths today, with 18.

The 2nd wave has hit the European Union countries in a big way. 15 of the 27 EU countries set new records today: Czechia, Belgium and Italy all had more than 10,000 cases for the first time today; Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta also set new daily records. Overall, there were 97,485 new cases in the EU today.

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 18

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	40.26 million	324,927	1.118 million	3,971
USA	8.39 million	44,941	224,730	448

This week's counts
Location	Total Cases	Percent Change	Total Deaths	Percent Change
World	2.47 million	+8.1%	36,777	-1.5%
USA	395,831	+15.6%	4,927	-3.2%

For now, anyway, the death count has continued to go down in the USA as the number of cases has risen sharply.

We should not expect that to continue.

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 19

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	40.64 million	337,854	1.122 million	4,389
USA	8.46 million	57,327	225,222	442

Among other things, the President of the United States said, today, "People are tired of Covid... They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots... Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years... If we listened to him, we’d have 700-800,000 deaths right now... And yet, we keep him... Every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb, but there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him."

The opening of the quoted passages, at least, appears to be correct. People are tired of COVID-19.

Unfortunately for all of us, being tired of COVID-19, does not make it go away.

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 20

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	41.05 million	384,031	1.129 million	6,169
USA	8.52 million	62,478	226,184	952

Czechia continued to set records for new cases, with 11,984 today, or an eye-popping 1,118 per million population.

Through the end of August, Wisconsin never had more than 1,165 cases in a single day. Today, Wisconsin hit a new high for the 7th, time so far in October, with 4,591. The positivity rate in Wisconsin today was 33.6%, the highest there since March 14th when there were a total of 8 test results reported. Wisconsin also reported 218 new COVID-19 hospitalizations today; the prior record was 165.

North Dakota never had more than 250 cases in one day until August 20th, 4 days after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally ended in neighboring South Dakota. Today, North Dakota had 1,029 new cases. That's 1,350 per million population; 20% higher than Czechia. The positivity rate in North Dakota is 19.7%.

Hospitalizations are also rising in many places in the USA. Per a CNN report today: "Fourteen states reported their peak Covid-19 hospitalizations in the past week: Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to the Covid Tracking Project."

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 21

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	41.49 million	439,014	1.136 million	6,848
USA	8.59 million	64,067	227,408	1,224

The world case number shatters last week's prior record by more than 20,000 cases.

The UK had 26,688 new cases, more than 5,000 above its prior record.

Italy had more than 12,000 cases for the first time, with... 15,199.

Germany and Poland each had more than 10,000 cases for the first time.

One out of every 715 people in Czechia was newly listed as positive for COVID-19, today.

The USA had its highest death total since August 26th. Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Montana and Wisconsin all set new records for COVID-19 deaths. 

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 22

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	41.97 million	479,476	1.142 million	6,477
USA	8.67 million	74,466	228,381	973

The world case number shatters yesterday's record by more than 38,000 cases.

France had 41,622 new cases today. That's the equivalent of 211,304 cases in the USA.

Spain had more than 20,000 new cases today. Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania, Austria, Armenia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Jordan and Kenya are among the other countries that also set new records today.

In the USA, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, Ohio and Utah set new case records today.

It's been 4 weeks since I've updated the CDC Excess Death Associated with COVID-19 charts. So... here goes. Per the CDC Excess Death numbers, between 231,952 and 311,882 Americans have died from COVID-19 as of October 10th. As ever, note that CDC tabulations run several weeks behind, and these numbers will likely be adjusted upward by around 15,000-20,000 in eventual updates. It remains to be seen whether there will be a 3rd US death wave.

The charts below show the CDC "low" and "high" estimates, along with the worldometer counts, both weekly and cumulative.

CDC Excess Deaths and Worldometer Death Counts, Week-by-Week and Cumulative

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 23

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	42.47 million	490,737	1.149 million	6,541
USA	8.75 million	81,414	229,284	903

The world case total is the third consecutive day for a new record. The USA total shattered the previous high of 79,016 set on July 24.

 

States with new highs for COVID-19 cases today:
State	Cases Today
Arkansas	1,337
Ohio	2,535
Rhode Island	525
South Dakota	1,185
Tennessee	3,606
Utah	1,960
Wyoming	426

South Dakota becomes the 2nd state to have more than a statewide 0.1% case rate of the entire population on a single day; 0.134% of all South Dakotans were confirmed positive today. South Dakota now has the 2nd highest total case rate in the USA, at 4.2% of the population. Only North Dakota, at 4.7%, is higher.

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24

OCTOBER 24

Today's counts
Location	Total Cases	Cases Today	Total Deaths	Deaths Today
World	42.92 million	452,876	1.154 million	5,599
USA	8.83 million	79,449	230,068	784

This week's counts
Location	Total Cases	Percent Change	Total Deaths	Percent Change
World	2.93 million	+18.6%	40,124	+9.1%
USA	473,347	+19.6%	5,765	+17.0%

States with new highs for COVID-19 cases today:
State	Cases Today
Colorado	1,828
Illinois	6,161
Kentucky	1,732
Michigan	3,490
Ohio	2,861
Oklahoma	1,829

25 states have now set single-day case records during the month of October.

Here in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued the following statement on twitter:

We are seeing an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in Michigan right now. It is vital that we wear masks, avoid large gatherings, and practice physical distancing. Your fellow Michiganders and our frontline health care workers are counting on each one of us to do the right thing.

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) October 24, 2020

The attached charts show the weekly case and death numbers for the world and the USA since the start of the pandemic.

World and USA COVID-19 case and Death Counts, weekly and cumulative

October 13 | October 14 | October 15 | October 16 | October 18 | October 19 | October 20 | October 21 | October 22 | October 23 | October 24