Coronavirus Special Coverage

A collection of news posted throughout the week for those that want signal, not noise.

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Key developments for Tuesday, October 27, 2020

There are over 44.2 million global cases.  The world has gained 3.3 million cases since last week, and case growth continues to increase. There have been nearly 1.2 million deaths. There are over 9 million cases in the US. There have been over 232,000 deaths in the US. Over 964 have died in the US since yesterday. The US gained over 71,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. Brazil is still second in the world in number of deaths, with over 157,000.

Cases are exploding in the US and hospitals are reaching or exceeding capacity in many different states and regions. This is not to say that some areas aren’t having troughs in hospitalizations—some are. But the general trend is worrying. Tennessee has had record high single-day cases and deaths, for example.

The US is back to record highs:

COVID tests are now available at Costco, but they’re pricey:

Even after the devastation in Wuhan, only ~4% of people sampled had antibodies for COVID in the spring. It really makes you wonder what it takes to achieve herd immunity… And it also shows that aggressive social distancing measures work.

Folks are burning through their nest eggs during the pandemic. It is a catastrophe on multiple fronts.

AstraZenica and Johnson & Johnson are resuming their halted vaccine trials. The FDA has given the green light for the trials to continue.

People are holding back on spending on what is perceived (probably rightly) to be unsafe. Fewer people are dining out or going to the gym, and this kind of weakened demand is crushing the economy. The truth is, nothing is going to fix this until the pandemic is dealt with. If we want the economy to recover, we’ve got to get case numbers controlled. In the absence of vaccines, we’re left with test-trace-isolate, which we’re not doing systematically. Reduced tax revenue is also hurting city, county, and state budgets:

El Paso is back in lockdown:

China could be facing serious food shortages because of pandemic-related hits to its agriculture sector. Infectious diseases among livestock (like swine flu and bird flu) are also contributing to the problem.

10,000 evictions have been filed in five states. A huge housing crisis is coming our way because of pandemic-related joblessness.

There’s some argument (and evidence) that wiping down groceries is not necessary. Many still do. I say it’s better to be safe than sorry. Fomite contamination is not the primary driver of spread, but it’s not unheard of, either:


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