Coronavirus update - March 11th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no “bad math”. Here’s where we stand...
Tuesday was an active day of reporting complete with new information from the CDC and the Coronavirus Task Force. The guidance is now that four million additional test kits are being deployed across the country this week. The news came as the US crossed the 1,000-case mark. It’s possible that numbers begin to rise as more kits and testing becomes available independent of further spreading. The virus hitting in the heart of flu season complicates knowing which people are potential victims of COVID-19 from those who have the traditional flu virus.
According to the Task Force, those over the age of 60 are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Officials stated that the symptoms are least severe with those who are youngest – with the effects being less severe than the common flu for children. This is different than most viruses which are most dangerous for those oldest and youngest. The task force also indicated the average age of death for someone due to the virus is 80.
Here’s where we now stand in Florida:
- 23 instate cases – 2 deaths – 0 recovered
Nationally:
- 1,010 cases – 31 deaths – 15 recovered
Worldwide:
- 119,286 – 4,300 deaths – 66,582 recovered
The United States remains 8th in the world in total cases. The most disconcerting aspect of the virus at this point remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. It’s remained static at 6% for ten days. In the United States we’ve experienced more deaths than recoveries thus far by a greater than 2 to 1 margin. To put this in perspective – let’s say every American obtained the H1N1 flu virus. Based on its average death rate it’d kill 165,000 Americans. If the COVID-19 virus maintained its current death rate and every American contracted it, 19.8 million Americans would die. Again, 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 and the end of winter which is just around the corner.