This daily update is designed to put everything into perspective with straight-forward facts.
Monday was an active day of reporting complete with new information from the CDC and the Coronavirus Task Force. According to the Task Force, those over the age of 60 are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 virus. Officials stated that the symptoms are least severe with those who are youngest and the effects being less severe than the common flu for children. This is different than most viruses which are most dangerous for those oldest and youngest. The task force also indicated the average age of death for someone due to the virus is 80.
In Florida, we have 19 cases, two deaths and none recovered. Nationally there are 729 cases, 27 deaths, and 15 recovered. Worldwide, there are 114,505 cases, 4,027 deaths, and 64,272 recovered.
The United States is now 8th in the world in total cases having passed Japan on Monday. The most disconcerting aspect of the virus at this point remains the death/recovery rate based on closed cases. It’s remained static at 6% for nine days. In the United States, we’ve experienced more deaths than recoveries thus far. To put this in perspective, let’s say every American obtained the H1N1 flu virus. Based on its average death rate, it’d kill 165,000 Americans. If the COVID-19 virus maintained its current death rate and every American contracted it, 19.8 million Americans would die. Again, I’m not at all trying to be an alarmist. Those are just the facts. Hopefully, we begin to see progress with the death rate and the end of winter which is just around the corner.
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