March 24. Coronavirus Safety versus Commerce

March 24.  Coronavirus Safety versus Commerce

Trump keeps walking to the end of the plank.  He has been pushing going back to work, deciding in one week.  Fortunately, criticism and good advice have delayed it for three weeks from now, until Easter.  We are indeed hoping that it will be accomplished by then, instead of 3 months. But the number of those infected is still skyrocketing with added testing, and deaths will mount as our healthcare system is overwhelmed, and doctors and health care workers get sick and are pulled out.

However, Trump has said that since other forms of death in America are large, and we do nothing about them, that we shouldn’t worry about Coronavirus deaths, either.  Trump sited the yearly flu, and auto accidents.  The flu runs from 12,000 to 66,000 and have been high in the last two years.  Auto accidents are 37,000.  Auto accidents also injure 2.35 million in the US.  By the way, we do a lot to protect against auto accidents.  Hopefully, automated driving will lower this considerably.  The actions which we are taking to halt the Coronavirus Pandemic should also help stop the flu, and we can keep some in place in future years.

However, Trump forgot to include other sources, which he has acted to increase.  Of course, we always start with death by guns, which are around 36,000, and Trump has always backed out from acting on.  

Then there are 26,000 deaths a year from those who lack health insurance.  Trump and Republicans have worked tirelessly to destroy Obamacare since day one.  

A new study from MIT show that 90,000 to 360,000 deaths a year are premature, due to air pollution.  Trump has only worked to remove regulations on this.  People die from obesity and conditions caused by it.  Trump has abolished Mrs. Obama’s healthy foods school cafeteria programs.  Trump has tried to cut food programs for students and poor families.  23% of Americans don’t have enough money to pay for prescriptions from doctors.  Paul Krugman has shown that the average lifespan is four years longer in Democratic states, than in Republican states.

At least the more detailed plans will save Americans of 65, but what about a large percentage of Americans with immune compromised systems?  Also, about half of those employed fall into the essential category.

Half of US cases come from New York, and those who go elsewhere should self isolate for 14 days.

Today, the world passed four hundred thousand cases, at 422,652, with 18,901 deaths.  The US passed fifty thousand cases, at 55,041, with 790 deaths.  Of those deaths, 192 were in New York City, and 94 in King County Washington.  There have been over 300,000 tests.

The table has the Domain, the number of Cases, and the Percent Increase.  

Domain Cases Percent Increase
US 55,041 17.0%
NY 26,374 13.5%
NJ 3,675 29.2%
CA 2,562 16.3%
WA 2,469 11.2%
MI 1,793 34.9%
IL 1,537 19.6%
FL 1,467 10.6%
LA 1,388 18.4%
MA 1,159 49.2%
GA 1,097 36.6%
TX 999 30.6%
PA 946 35.5%
CO 912 26.1%
TN 772 25.7%
Canada 2,792 33.7%
Mexico 367 0%
Brazil 2,247 16.8%
Los Angeles County 662 22.6%
Orange County 152 21.6%

India put its entire country of 1.3 billion people under stay at home, with only 536 cases.  That is how a real country works.

Fortunately, the 40%s and 50%s of yesterday have dropped sharply.  Was that a weekend effect?  Washington is still 11%.  However, even 11% a day is doubling in a week.  The curve has a flatter logarithmic slope than others, but not flattening in real numbers.

Even Los Angeles and Orange counties reduced from the low thirties to the low twenties.

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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