Good afternoon. I hope you are all staying safe and getting things done as we move through this strange time. I’ve been told on FB this morning that COVID-19 is the biggest hoax ever, that local businesses closing was unnecessary, that flu shots are more dangerous than COVID-19 and I was followed on FB by an obvious bot spewing Q-Anon conspiracies. If you just thought, “Well, that’s all true,” there is really no need to bother reading my afternoon articles. Just read the morning ones and we can all be happy! Are we all exhausted, yet?
For the rest of you, the news today is encouraging or discouraging, depending on whether you are a glass half-empty or a glass half-full sort of person. Here’s what we’ve got:
International News:
There are 8,310,185 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide since the beginning of the pandemic and a total of 447,362 people have died. There are just over 3 1/2 million active cases around the world and about 54,000 of those are in critical condition. As you can see on the graph at the top of this article, the number of diagnosed cases continue to escalate globally, with yesterday’s increase of 142,557 cases being the largest single day increase, a record that has been repeatedly broken in recent weeks.
The number of daily deaths has been encouraging recently, with a sharp decline that lasted over a month, followed by several weeks of relative stabilization. That narrative hit a bump yesterday, when a startling 6,592 deaths were reported. It’s the most since May 6 and is troubling, though whether it represents an outlier or an escalation in deaths won’t be known until we see what comes next.
In some respects you could argue that Brazil along (maybe with support from a couple of other countries) is driving the increase in cases and the spike in deaths. Just yesterday, Brazil reported 37,278 new cases, which is a record for them and is probably the second highest total for any country in a single day, with the exception of the 39,000+ reported in the U.S. on April 24.
In addition to contributing almost 25% to the global daily numbers of new cases, the country reported 1,338 deaths, their second worst daily number and about 20% of deaths worldwide for the day. That said, India topped their number of reported deaths, documenting 2,006 deaths yesterday. Both countries have high and similar rates of increases in cases, but India’s reported number of deaths represents a single day increase in total deaths of over 15%.
Despite the above, there were twenty different countries reporting at least 1,000 new cases yesterday. None are in Europe, though Sweden came closest at 940 new cases. The countries reporting over 1,000 new cases continue to be clustered in the Americas, the middle east and southeast Asia. Russia continues to report roughly the same numbers every day, so there is no way to accurately know how bad their situation may have become. The U.S. had the second highest number of new cases and the third highest number of deaths in the world.
Honduran President Hernandez and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19. As the global economy quickly opens back up, greenhouse emissions are surging, as well. Beijing’s lockdown was expanded as a small but growing number of cases have been discovered. This comes after two months of no new cases.
National News:
The U.S. has reported 2,215,580 cases of COVID-19 and 119,269 deaths from the disease since the beginning of the pandemic. Yesterday, the U.S. reported an additional 25,450 new cases and 849 deaths. The number of new cases is the second highest number in the month of June, but remains well below highs of late April and early May. The seven day average does appear to be moving upward, once more and now sits over 23,000.
The number of deaths roughly doubled from one day to the next in the U.S., but the 849 total would have been seen as a very good relative number just a few weeks ago. It is less than the same day a week earlier. Overall, the decline in deaths in the U.S. appears to continue.
Overall numbers are important for a country, but in one the size of ours, more geographically specific information may matter more. That information shows that some portions of the country are improving, including some of those worst hit earlier, while other portions of the country are stable or getting worse.
Several states seem to have rapidly increasing numbers and are routinely setting records:
Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas all reported their most ever new cases on Tuesday after all-time highs last week and as they continued to reopen their economies. Nevada also reported its highest single-day tally of new cases on Tuesday, up from a previous high on 23 May.
Yesterday’s totals come with a question regarding Texas. There is some variability in any set of numbers you view, due to differing cut off times, etc, but Texas’ numbers for yesterday varied greatly. The governor and the state’s official site used a number just over 2,600, while Wikipedia, which has been tracking the numbers, said there were over 4,000 for the day. Worldometers, which I will continue to use says there are even more. Suffice to say it is high and getting higher.
According to Worldometer, there were four states reporting more than 1,000 new cases yesterday and in each case, it was more than 2300: Texas (4,413), California (3,440), Florida (2,783) and Arizona (2,392). The south continues to be high on the list of new cases. In addition to Texas and Florida, other southern states in the top twenty for largest increases include North Carolina (#5), Tennessee (#6), Georgia (#7), Alabama (#9), South Carolina (#11), Louisiana (#12),Virginia (#15), and Mississippi (#20). The remaining southern state, Arkansas, came in at number 23.
There is plenty of news popping from the states with high and increasing rates. A woman in Jacksonville, Florida and fifteen of her friends tested positive after a night at a local bar. She said she’d been very careful until that night. Also in Florida, 260 workers tested positive for the virus at the Orlando International Airport. Governor DeSantis says that hospitalization rates are under control and the economy must recover. He is working to bring President Trumps acceptance speech to the state.
Governor Abbot of Texas, who is another ally of the president, has also been aggressive with reopening his state, but is now urging young people to wear masks. This comes as numbers are rising rapidly and Texas hospitals are becoming stretched by the illness. The major cities in Texas are asking for the governor to make wearing masks mandatory.
President Trump plans to hold the largest public indoor gathering since the beginning of the pandemic on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While concern has been expressed regarding the potential to spread the virus, conservatives have noted the demonstrations as a counter to any concerns. The arena holds 20,000 people and an overflow venue is being explored. Masks are optional.
State and Local News:
The state of Tennessee reported 670 new cases yesterday, down slightly from the day before. It brings the pandemic total to 31,830 case in the state. In the first three days of this week, 2,289 new cases have been added, putting the state on course for another record week. As stated above, the state had the sixth highest number of new cases in the country, yesterday.
648 additional people were counted as recovered yesterday, producing a net increase of 22 active cases and bringing that current total to 11,120 active cases in the state. Ten Tennesseans died yesterday and an additional 40 were hospitalized. The state reported just over 9,000 tests were given, bringing the total to just short of 639,000.
A bill is moving forward in our legislature to limit coronavirus liability for businesses and institutions. Nashville has started issuing citations to businesses violating orders. Chattanooga is seeing the state’s highest increase in hospitalizations, while Vanderbilt University notes that Tennessee has reached its highest number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. At about 400, the report says the system is handling the number adequately at this time.
Locally, the Knox County Health Department is reporting just six new cases overnight, for one of our lowest one day increases in recent weeks. Our total diagnosed is now 596 and our total active cases is 104. There are currently six Knox County residents hospitalized with the illness, no new deaths and 21 probable cases.
Knox County Health Department Briefing:
Dr. Buchanan expressed appreciation to the teams working to provide testing, including at the Carter Senior Center. The East Knoxville Free Medical clinic will be the site for Monday’s effort. All are open to walk-up testing. She said they are once again suspending distribution of masks in bulk to organizations as they are running low. They should have more soon. She acknowledged the above numbers.
She reminded community members that the Board of Health meets tonight and it will be broadcast on community television.
Questions:
- Monday evening the Knox County commission did not wear face masks or socially distance. Does that negate your message to the public? No
- Touching other things and touching your mask could potentially contaminate it. Wearing a mask is better than not. Avoiding touching it is best. Also, wash your hands, surfaces and your masks.
- Are there any risks with wearing a mask for a long time? Not of which I am aware. If you feel short of breath, remove yourself from the situation and remove your mask temporarily.
- Two people claim to have gotten strep from wearing a mask, could that be true? I’ve never heard of that. It doesn’t seem possible.
- Do masks really help? Yes. They stop droplets from being spread. It’s the small droplets you can’t see that we worry about.
- How can people stay safe if they don’t wear a mask? Keep distance from others.
- Do you plan to present a prospective phase three plan tonight? We’ll talk about the plan that was already in place.
- How many masks were given to organizations? Numbers are not handy, but about 170,000 masks have been given out and about 300 organizations have requested masks.
- Are strip clubs allowed to open? Refer to the guidelines.
- At the end of May you said you were targeting efforts toward the Hispanic community. Has it helped? It’s too early to measure, but we continue to make efforts.
- Will you discuss the disproportional distribution of the disease tonight? We will discuss all data.
- Will a plan be produced tonight? I’m not sure.