Pandemic Perspective – How many Americans/Floridians have had COVID-19
Bottom Line: We’ve all been significantly impacted by the pandemic. This ranges from people who’ve died due to COVID-19 to those who’ve just been inconvenienced but the impact is 100%. The infection rate however is a far smaller number. To date there are only 4.43 million Americans who’ve been diagnosed with COVID-19 out of 328 million. In Florida, there’s only been about 440,000 cases out of 21.5 million. So, here’s our first look at the infection rate of Floridians and Americans generally.
- US infection rate: 1.4%
- Florida infection rate: 2%
So, Floridians have been 43% more likely to contract the coronavirus than Americans as a whole. It does emphasize the extra risk we’ve faced and continue to face if we’re not careful, but it also illustrates just how few of us have actually had the virus. Now, many suggest the reach has been much greater due to asymptomatic carriers, which is possible, however comparing positive test rates and outcomes to the CDC’s excess death data has illustrated that only about 2% more people have likely had the virus than what we’ve had diagnosed. What then are the takeaways?
- 98% of us likely haven’t had COVID-19
- We’re far more likely to be exposed in Florida, especially South Florida, than anywhere USA
- We’re a long, long way from herd immunity and probably don’t want to find out what that’d look like prior to widespread treatment options and a vaccine
Here’s something else it shows. COVID-19 is 2.5 times more contagious than the traditional flu. According to CDC estimates, 20% of Americans contract the flu annually. We’ve clearly done a good job on balance of not contracting COVID-19. It doesn’t sound that way in the news and reporting day in and day out but that’s the case. Given how contagious COVID-19 is relative to the flu, half the country would have contracted the virus already had we spread it at the same rate as the flu.