July 29, 2020 - 150,000 Americans Have Perished
150,000 Americans Have Perished
July 29, 2020
Before examining the Alabama data, we should pause to acknowledge a grim milestone passed by our nation today. More than 150,000 Americans have officially perished battling COVID-19. That is more than three times the number of U.S. soldiers who died in combat in the Vietnam War. As this virus has spread from Asia through Europe and into the less developed world, now ravaging Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico, the U.S. has shockingly maintained a constant percentage of all the world’s cases (27%) as well as its deaths (23%).
Here in Alabama, we have seen almost 83,782 cases (including probables) and 1,538 deaths (incl. 49 probables). By tomorrow, our State’s cases will surpass those in all of China, where the virus originated and which reported only 101 cases today and 84,006 in total. Alabama has more cases than Sweden, a country with twice our population, which made the ill-advised decision to strive for herd immunity by doing virtually nothing to prevent community spread.
We are bombarded every day with vast amounts of data and it is important to consider this data in the larger context. Today, ADHP reported 1,416 cases (incl. 157 probables) and 47 more deaths (incl. 4 probables). The 7-day average of cases is 1,710 vs. 1,719 yesterday. Our 7-day average death rate remains over 23 per day. Both the case count and death rate appear to have flattened over the last week or ten days.
As of 6:00 pm, ADPH had not updated its daily test data, so the positivity rate is unavailable. Moreover, the State’s hospitalization data is suspicious because the exact same number of inpatients were reported today as yesterday - 1,598 - a decline of just one inpatient since Monday. It’s not clear why ADPH is experiencing so many issues with its data reporting more than 4 months after the pandemic made its appearance in our State.
Perhaps the best news of the day is that Gov. Ivey extended her Amended Safe at Home order (a/k/a the “mandatory mask order”) until August 31. In addition, her order was amended to require each student in the second grade or above to wear a facial covering “to the greatest extent practicable”. If the original face mask order, which went into effect July 16, is responsible for the recent flattening of the curve in new cases, the order should remain in place as long as possible.
If the test and hospitalization data becomes available before the day’s close, I will post a supplement to this post. In the meantime, here are the 14-day case totals:
7/16 - 2,021
7/17 - 2,003
7/18 - 2,143
7/19 - 1,777
7/20 - 1,880
7/21 - 1,467
7/22 - 1,455
7/23 - 2,399
7/24 - 1,793
7/25 - 2,125
7/26 - 1,164
7/27 - 1,821
7/28 - 1,251
7/29 - 1,416
Mobile led the way with 188 cases, followed by Jefferson with 127 cases. St. Clair County set a new individual record with 56 cases. Mercifully, Tuscaloosa County, the home of one of Alabama’s finest hospitals, DCH Regional Medical Center, had only 19 new cases.