Coronavirus update - March 18th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no “bad math”. As a reminder, 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 stand...
Here’s where we now stand in Florida:
- 216 instate cases – 7 deaths
Nationally:
- 6,524 cases – 116 deaths – 106 recovered
Worldwide:
- 198,959 – 7,991 deaths – 82,779 recovered
The United States remains 8th in the world in total cases. We’ve had nearly 1,800 new positive cases in the US in the past 24 hours along with 23 additional deaths. The most disconcerting aspect of the virus at this point remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. It has risen to 9% (after reaching a low of 6% two 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 people early on followed by improving rates overtime as people begin to recover.
In the United States we’ve continued to experience more deaths than recoveries. 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, 29.7 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. The traditional flu season generally ends in early April.