Coronavirus update - March 26th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no “bad math”. Wednesday was another day focused on the battle in Washington over relief for individuals and businesses due to the virus. Last night the Senate passed a $2 trillion bill which is near equitably split between relief for individuals and businesses. The bill goes to the House which is expected to vote no later than Friday. President Trump is supportive and will sign it into law should the House pass it – which is expected.
Regarding the virus itself, Wednesday brought about the 1,000th death attributed to the virus in the US as we’re likely to soon pass Italy in total cases. In more promising news, China has now only reported six new cases over the past 48 hours. Questions remain about the validity of these numbers but if even somewhat true – it's great progress and news. One of the other bright spots on the horizon is the recent FDA approval of a new test that can produce results in as few as 45 minutes. The new tests are set begin shipping nationwide starting Friday – for full use across the country next week.
As a reminder, according to the Task Force, those over the age of 60 are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 along with those who have pre-existing conditions.
Here’s where we now stand in Florida:
- 1,977 instate cases – 23 deaths – 5 recovered
Nationally:
- 68,489 cases –1,032 deaths – 394 recovered
Worldwide:
- 472,907–21,315 deaths – 114,775 recovered
We experienced nearly 50,000 additional cases worldwide on Wednesday, with around 14,000 new cases in the US and 248 additional deaths. The United States remains 3rd in the world in total cases, only behind China and Italy. The most disconcerting aspect of the virus at this point remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. We have nearly double the deaths to recoveries in the US thus far and worldwide the death rate has spiked to 16%. This after having reached a low of 6% three weeks ago. We’ve seen the death rate rise as the reach of the virus grows. The common pattern with the virus spreading is an increase in death rates with vulnerable early on, followed by improving rates overtime as people begin to recover. I’m not at all trying to be an alarmist. Those are just the facts. Hopefully we begin to see progress with the death rate along with spring. The traditional flu season generally ends in April.