December 3, 2020 - How Did This Happen?
How Did This Happen?
December 3, 2020
How did this happen? How is the United States of America reduced to watching more of its citizens die of COVID in one day than the nation of Japan has witnessed in the entire pandemic? How can more of us die in a week than those in Germany since the start of this crisis? As we near the end of 2020, how is it still possible that nearly one-third of the world’s cases every day, and one-quarter of its deaths, occur in America?
How bad is it? So bad that Doctors Without Borders, an international relief organization that attends to the hottest spots in the world, has rushed to our assistance by assigning teams to help Navajo Nation. The world looks on with astonishment that the United States, with its advanced scientific and public health communities, has been reduced to this. After the pandemic ends, there must be a national reckoning.
For the third consecutive day, ADPH reported 3,000+ cases in Alabama - 3,531 (incl. 765 probables) - and 65 more deaths. The single-day positivity rate was 28.4% and the 7-day moving average is now 32%. Statewide hospitalizations continued their climb. There were 107 hospitals reporting 1,827 in-patients, an increase of 703 patients since November 14.
There is a geographic anomaly to the pandemic in Alabama that continues to assert itself. It is so strong that it simply cannot be a coincidence. When you compare Alabama’s counties by per capita daily cases over the last 14 days, the 17 counties with the highest per capita rate are all located north of Birmingham (Jefferson County ranks 14th). I cannot explain why north Alabama is so severely affected but there is no question it is, which portends badly for hospitals in the Birmingham and Huntsville areas. The totals:
11/20 - 2463
11/21 - 2335
11/22 - 1798
11/23 - 1574
11/24 - 2785
11/25- 2453
11/26 - 2639
11/27 - 917
11/28 - 2119
11/29 - 2236
11/30 - 2295
12/1 - 3376
12/2 - 3928
12/3 - 3531
There were 10 counties that reported more than 100 cases, another new record, They are as follows: Jefferson - 502; Madison - 290; Baldwin -178; Tuscaloosa - 164; Mobile - 153; Etowah - 147; Shelby - 144 (new high); Morgan - 120; Calhoun -114; Jackson - 109 (new high). All but 4 counties have 14-day positivity rates over 20%; 39 counties over 30%; 10 counties over 40%; and 4 counties over 50%.