COVID-19 Megathread 4: Grandma Got Run Over by the Dow Jones

[Nyvin]

https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/status/860595784424620034

[Nyvin]

Also worth noting that a decrease in Arch's reported percentage increases isn't necessarily informative because the overall number of cases (i.e., denominator used in the calculation) is declining. You could have a constant number of new cases each day, and that percentage increase would be going down.

Yesterday was a record high number of absolute new cases (34K), and the day before was the first date with 30K new cases. Anybody acting like there is a week-long trend in decreases is either innumerate or dishonest.

Yeah, if the "percentage" of increase in cases was increasing exponentially (or even linearly) over the long term then we'd really be screwed.

[Nyvin]

Trump has direct money interests in promoting Hydroxychloroquine.   Surprising no one.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine_n_5e8c41d7c5b6e1d10a696280

President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there’s no strong evidence it works.

Trump “has a small personal financial interest” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday.

[Nyvin]

You can't blame Governor Tony Evers if Wisconsin sees a Covid-19 spike in a few weeks. The election photos coming in so far look like a recipe for disaster.

I'll blame him, though not as much as the Republicans.  He should have supported a delay in the election from the beginning.

No,  the blame for this one lies squarely with Republicans,  not Evers in anyway whatsoever.   I can pretty much guarantee the public polls will show this too.

[Nyvin]

U.S Deaths today are at 1,821

Holy crap...

[Nyvin]

A rather unsurprising development:

CNN: A sudden rise in coronavirus cases is hitting rural states without stay-at-home orders

Just as cases are starting to plateau in some big cities and along the coasts, the coronavirus is catching fire in rural states across the American heartland, where there has been a small but significant spike this week in cases.
...
The bump in coronavirus cases is most pronounced in states without stay at home orders. Oklahoma saw a 53% increase in cases over the past week, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Over same time, cases jumped 60% in Arkansas, 74% in Nebraska, and 82% in Iowa. South Dakota saw a whopping 205% spike.

The remaining states, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming each saw an increase in cases, but more in line with other places that have stay-at-home orders. And all of those numbers may very well undercount the total cases, given a persistent lack of testing across the US.

Kristi Noem has to be one of the most inept governors in the country.

Good thing she only has to govern about 900k people.