Coronavirus update – April 17th
Bottom Line: This daily update is designed to put everything in perspective with straight-forward facts. No hyperbole, no misinformation, no nonsense. We entered the week with news of the potential peak/flattening of the curve being possible. On Thursday, the projected peak day for cases according to the closely watched University of Washington model, President Trump began to lay out the framework for the reopening the economy with a 3-Phase plan. He once again stated it will be up to governors within states to use federal guidance, but suggested the process could begin within a matter of days rather than months in lowly impacted states. The president also said he spoke with all major sport commissioners and the current plans are to resume sports without fans, with a return to normalcy after the passing of the virus. The day ended on an especially optimistic note as Gilead’s Pharmaceutical’s trial of the already promising drug Remdesivir, used to treat Ebola, proved highly effective in treating COVID-19 patients in a University of Chicago study. In the study “nearly all” hospitalized patients treated daily with the drug were released within a week.
Here’s where we stand.
Worldwide:
- 2,184,784 – 146,899 deaths – 553,260 recovered
Nationally:
- 678,210 cases – 34,641 deaths – 57,844 recovered
Here’s where we now stand in Florida:
- 23,340 cases – 668 deaths (specific Florida recoveries aren’t disclosed)
We experienced over 96,000 additional diagnosed cases and over 12,000 deaths worldwide Thursday. Both new highs within a day for the third consecutive day. The question is if it will prove to have been the peak as predicted...? In the United States, we had over 33,000 new cases and greater than 6,000 deaths - making Thursday the deadliest day for the virus in the US as well. For the month of April, COVID-19 has been the top estimated cause of death in the United States.
The most disconcerting aspect of the virus remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. With greater than 700,000 closed cases, the death rate remained at 21% for an 12th-consecutive day. This after having reached a low of 6% in early March. 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.