COVID-19 Megathread 5: The Trumps catch COVID-19

[Del Tachi]

Completely nonsense narrative. The United States taxpayer funds a lot of this research. We get the double whammy of getting taxed for drug research and then also paying the most for drug therapies with no government price controls. That's not the rest of the world taking advantage of us, that's our own government screwing us. This has been studied but again you can be an informed person or go with lazy Republican talking points.

Fooey.  The value of private research and development dwarfs the amount of grants doled out by CDC, NIH or whoever.  The U.S. market system supports hundreds of billions of dollars in private research (because only with a profit-incentivizing system can the huge overhead costs of drug development be justified).  Patients in other countries then get to import drugs that wouldn't exist if not for the American for-profit system at deeply discounted rates due to price ceilings.

That's not the U.S. government 'screwing' us, it's the reality that only a system like the U.S.' provides the necessary incentives to power the innovation needed to lengthen global life expectancy, decrease disease incidence, and improve quality of life.  

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1278084087585009665

[HillGoose]

BBC: New swine flu strain with pandemic potential found in China.

I really hate this year.

sounds like it's time to start thinking about wiping China off the face of the planet ngl

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1278084087585009665

When you care more about performative obedience to your party's president than you care about your own constituents.

[lfromnj]

BBC: New swine flu strain with pandemic potential found in China.

I really hate this year.

sounds like it's time to start thinking about wiping China off the face of the planet ngl

No can we have a day on this thread without addiction for genocide?

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1278084087585009665

When you care more about performative obedience to your party's president than you care about your own constituents.

My local Toyota dealership apparently cares more about how Americans are affected by the coronavirus than people like DeSuckass or the President do.

[GP270watch]

Completely nonsense narrative. The United States taxpayer funds a lot of this research. We get the double whammy of getting taxed for drug research and then also paying the most for drug therapies with no government price controls. That's not the rest of the world taking advantage of us, that's our own government screwing us. This has been studied but again you can be an informed person or go with lazy Republican talking points.

Fooey.  The value of private research and development dwarfs the amount of grants doled out by CDC, NIH or whoever.  The U.S. market system supports hundreds of billions of dollars in private research (because only with a profit-incentivizing system can the huge overhead costs of drug development be justified).  Patients in other countries then get to import drugs that wouldn't exist if not for the American for-profit system at deeply discounted rates due to price ceilings.

That's not the U.S. government 'screwing' us, it's the reality that only a system like the U.S.' provides the necessary incentives to power the innovation needed to lengthen global life expectancy, decrease disease incidence, and improve quality of life.  

 Why has The United States life expectancy dropped for 3 years in a row when all other industrialized nations have risen?

 And I will state again the role of The United States in drug innovation has been researched and studied, feel free to do a google search and inform yourself with an unbiased view or keep spouting talking points.

[Green Line]

Wow, nearly 1 million new tests reported today and 100+ less deaths compared to last Tuesday.  Deaths continue to plummet week over week.  Great news!

[gerritcole]

So are we making progress or no? Deaths fall but fauci out here saying million new cases a day

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Wow, nearly 1 million new tests reported today and 100+ less deaths compared to last Tuesday.  Deaths continue to plummet week over week.  Great news!

It has an incredibly low death rate among healthy young people and an incredibly high death rate among the elderly and infirm, and it's shifted demographics.

It's too early to say how this virus will affect those who get it long-term, but this "second wave" isn't going to look anything like the first.

[Storebought]

US buys up world stock of key COVID-19 drug

The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world.

Remdesivir, the first drug approved by licensing authorities in the US to treat Covid-19, is made by Gilead and has been shown to help people recover faster from the disease. The first 140,000 doses, supplied to drug trials around the world, have been used up. The Trump administration has now bought more than 500,000 doses, which is all of Gilead’s production for July and 90% of August and September.

Isn't this exactly how the US health care system operates even during normal times? Patching up gunshot traumas and masking the symptoms of chronic illness  with expensive medications at stupendous public cost, rather than just regulating the guns and encouraging healthy lifestyles so people don't get quite as sick in the first place?

But Americans know better! Buying up the world's supply of a not-fully-tested (normal drug trials last ~10 years) medication at top dollar is evidently far cheaper than mandating citizens nationwide to wear face coverings in public.

[Calthrina950]

Today in Colorado, Governor Polis ordered bars and nightclubs in Colorado to close again, an order which remains in effect for at least thirty days: https://krdo.com/news/top-stories/2020/06/30/gov-polis-orders-bars-nightclubs-to-close-in-colorado-amid-covid-19-pandemic/. Thus far, Colorado still has avoided the massive upsurge in cases other states have seen, but I'm now worried that this may not be the case for much longer.

This whole situation is frustrating to me. On the one hand, the response of many states (and of our federal government) to this pandemic has been an incompetent one. On the other hand, reimposing business shutdowns-and possibly even stay-at-home orders-will inflict even more pain upon us, economically and psychologically. There is a fine line to be walked here.

[GP270watch]

So are we making progress or no? Deaths fall but fauci out here saying million new cases a day

 One clear area we made progress is protecting nursing homes and elderly care facilities with best practices.

[Meclazine for Israel]

https://twitter.com/AnaCabrera/status/1278002884920184834

President Trump: "Ban all the testing: cases reach 0, problem solved."

Corporate Executive Move 101.

[Dr. Arch]

The updated numbers for COVID-19 in the U.S. are in for 6/30 per: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I'm keeping track of these updates daily and updating at the end of the day, whenever all states finish reporting for that day.

Δ Change: Day-by-day Growth or Decline or COVID-19 Spread/Deaths.

• IE: Are we flattening the curve enough?

Σ Increase: A day's contribution to overall percentage growth of COVID-19 cases/deaths.

• IE: What's the overall change in the total?

<Last Numbers for 3/26-3/28 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 3/29-4/4 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/5-4/11 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/12-4/18 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/19-4/25 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 4/26-5/2 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/3-5/9 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/10-5/16 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/17-5/23 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/24-5/30 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/31-6/6 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 6/7-6/13 in this post>

6/14: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,162,144 (+19,920 | Δ Change: ↓21.27% | Σ Increase: ↑0.93%)
• Deaths: 117,853 (+326 | Δ Change: ↓53.56% | Σ Increase: ↑0.28%)

6/15:

• Cases: 2,182,950 (+20,806 | Δ Change: ↑4.45% | Σ Increase: ↑0.96%)
• Deaths: 118,283 (+430 | Δ Change: ↑31.90% | Σ Increase: ↑0.36%)

6/16:

• Cases: 2,208,400 (+25,450 | Δ Change: ↑22.32% | Σ Increase: ↑1.17%)
• Deaths: 119,132 (+849 | Δ Change: ↑97.44% | Σ Increase: ↑0.72%)

6/17:

• Cases: 2,234,471 (+26,071 | Δ Change: ↑2.44% | Σ Increase: ↑1.18%)
• Deaths: 119,941 (+809 | Δ Change: ↓4.71% | Σ Increase: ↑0.68%)

6/18:

• Cases: 2,263,651 (+29,180 | Δ Change: ↑11.93% | Σ Increase: ↑1.31%)
• Deaths: 120,688 (+747 | Δ Change: ↓7.66% | Σ Increase: ↑0.62%)

6/19:

• Cases: 2,297,190 (+33,539 | Δ Change: ↑14.94% | Σ Increase: ↑1.48%)
• Deaths: 121,407 (+719 | Δ Change: ↓3.75% | Σ Increase: ↑0.60%)

6/20:

• Cases: 2,330,578 (+33,388 | Δ Change: ↓0.45% | Σ Increase: ↑1.45%)
• Deaths: 121,980 (+573 | Δ Change: ↓20.31% | Σ Increase: ↑0.47%)

6/21: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,356,657 (+26,079 | Δ Change: ↓21.89% | Σ Increase: ↑1.12%)
• Deaths: 122,247 (+267 | Δ Change: ↓53.40% | Σ Increase: ↑0.22%)

6/22:

• Cases: 2,388,153 (+31,496 | Δ Change: ↑20.77% | Σ Increase: ↑1.34%)
• Deaths: 122,610 (+363 | Δ Change: ↑35.96% | Σ Increase: ↑0.30%)

6/23:

• Cases: 2,424,168 (+36,015 | Δ Change: ↑14.35% | Σ Increase: ↑1.51%)
• Deaths: 123,473 (+863 | Δ Change: ↑137.74% | Σ Increase: ↑0.70%)
• Death toll inflated by older counts recently dumped by DE

6/24:

• Cases: 2,462,554 (+38,386 | Δ Change: ↑6.18% | Σ Increase: ↑1.58%)
• Deaths: 124,281 (+808 | Δ Change: ↓6.37% | Σ Increase: ↑0.65%)

6/25:

• Cases: 2,504,588 (+42,034 | Δ Change: ↑9.50% | Σ Increase: ↑1.71%)
• Deaths: 126,780 (+2,499 | Δ Change: ↑209.28% | Σ Increase: ↑2.01%)
• Death toll inflated by older counts recently dumped by NJ

6/26:

• Cases: 2,552,940 (+48,352 | Δ Change: ↑15.03% | Σ Increase: ↑1.93%)
• Deaths: 127,640 (+860 | Δ Change: ↓65.59% | Σ Increase: ↑0.68%)
• Death Δ Change affected by older counts recently dumped by NJ on 6/25

6/27:

• Cases: 2,596,537 (+43,597 | Δ Change: ↓9.83% | Σ Increase: ↑1.71%)
• Deaths: 128,152 (+512 | Δ Change: ↓40.47% | Σ Increase: ↑0.40%)

6/28: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,637,077 (+40,540 | Δ Change: ↓7.01% | Σ Increase: ↑1.56%)
• Deaths: 128,437 (+285 | Δ Change: ↓44.34% | Σ Increase: ↑0.22%)

6/29 (Yesterday):

• Cases: 2,681,802 (+44,725 | Δ Change: ↑10.32% | Σ Increase: ↑1.70%)
• Deaths: 128,779 (+342 | Δ Change: ↑20.00% | Σ Increase: ↑0.27%)

6/30 (Today):

• Cases: 2,727,853 (+46,051 | Δ Change: ↑2.96% | Σ Increase: ↑1.72%)
• Deaths: 130,122 (+1,343 | Δ Change: ↑292.69% | Σ Increase: ↑1.04%)

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

For those counting cases, it looks like there are some optimistic signs today that the surge in cases over the last several days in the south may have peaked, especially considering that Tuesday is usually the heaviest day.

If only... 

You are misinterpreting the day of the week effect. It is true that Tuesdays were usually the heaviest day during the time that we were down-trending. The reason for that is not only that it was generally reporting tests conducted Monday, but also because we were on a down-trend. If you are on a down-trend, then in general, days which are further on in time will tend to have lower cases (and Fridays, for example, are further on in time than Tuesdays). Now, while we were on a down-trend, since it was a fairly slow down-trend, that latter effect was likely comparatively small as compared to the weekend-backlog effect, and thus if you just looked at the numbers most of the excess in cases reported on Tuesdays in comparison to other weekdays was likely due to the weekend-reporting effect.

However, what is different is now we are on an up-trend, and not only that, but at least recently in a startlingly fast up-trend (that is inherently how exponential growth works, it sneaks up on you - everything looks fine for a bit and lulls you into complacency, and then suddenly everything is not fine any more). That means that the time-trend effect is now opposite in direction/sign. And since the up-trend is much steeper at the moment than our down-trend ever was, the time trend is also now much more significant and larger than it was during our down-trend. This means that we shouldn't really expect that Tuesdays will be the highest case # days per week while we remain in this strong up-trend.

A better measurement to see if Tuesday's cases are high or low and whether things are going well or not is to compare Tuesday's numbers to last Tuesday. We had about 46k cases this Tuesday and 36k last Tuesday. That is quite a large increase over 1 week of 10k cases, or a 28% increase in new cases. That does not suggest at all that things are getting better. It suggests that things are quite bad and case #s are in a horrendous up-trend at the moment.

Similarly, if you look back at when cases were going up originally in the first wave back in March, you will not observe that Tuesdays have more cases. Rather, dates that come later in time have more cases... That is more similar to the situation we are in now.

Another factor we may also start having in some places is the weekend backlogs (and backlogs in general) are in some places starting to get large enough/frequent enough that a backlog may persist for multiple days. Recently there have been more examples such as Tennessee and Arizona not reporting their cases on one day because of some technical issues and because a big lab in Arizona didn't manage to report in time (probably for Maricopa county). Similarly I have been reading in TX about backlogs that have been developing in Houston and Austin, and also in smaller towns (i.e. tests where result reporting has been delayed a week or more, or where test processing has stopped). There are news articles about labs that are running into various problems as the #s of tests that they have to process go up. To the extent that public health officials/labs/testing centers start having more and more trouble keeping up with the sheer number of cases they have to deal with, this may lead to larger backlogs and longer lags in testing.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

Regarding deaths and the question of when we might expect to start seeing them going up as well as cases ---

Probably the country which has had the most similar epidemic trajectory to the USA so far is Iran (that should probably be embarrassing for the USA, but that's another story and we'll just ignore that fact and go on to the point...)...

Anyway, Iran had its first wave. Then it re-opened too early before it had gotten the virus under control, and then after a lag cases started going way up again. Same story as in the US of A.

So, what happened with deaths in Iran? How much did the rise in deaths on the second wave (or the second hump of the first wave, if you prefer) lag the initial rise in cases?

In Iran, the 7 day average of confirmed cases reached its low point in the downtrend after the first wave/first peak on May 3, and subsequently cases started rising again for the 2nd wave/peak. And in Iran, similarly to the USA recently, deaths per day were falling for a while after they got their first wave (somewhat) under control. They started to rise again to their 2nd wave/peak of deaths on May 31.

The difference between May 31 and May 3 is a lag time of 28 days.

In the USA, our cases reached a 7-day-average low point on June 9 (though it was also fairly close to that as late as June 14). July 7 is 28 days after June 9.

So if we had the same time lag as Iran did in reported deaths going up after reported cases started going back up again, we would expect US deaths to start trending back up starting on July 7.

Of course, there are a variety of reasons we can hypothesize about why there might be more (or less) of a lag in one case or another due to various differences between the situations in Iran and the USA, but that is just one comparative data point to consider. Given Iran's experience, we shouldn't be surprised if deaths start rising a bit before that, or potentially a bit after that.

But what we probably can conclude is that we shouldn't be all that surprised that deaths haven't started spiking in the USA already. And likewise, if we get to July 15 or so and deaths still haven't started spiking by that point, then it is only really at that point that we will have reason to be genuinely surprised that deaths have not yet risen. If deaths are still going down (or are stable) by that point, then there will be a mystery that requires some sort of explanation.

But until then, we can't draw any firm conclusions. In short, wait a week or two and then we can start to see what is happening with deaths.

[Calthrina950]

The updated numbers for COVID-19 in the U.S. are in for 6/30 per: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I'm keeping track of these updates daily and updating at the end of the day, whenever all states finish reporting for that day.

Δ Change: Day-by-day Growth or Decline or COVID-19 Spread/Deaths.

• IE: Are we flattening the curve enough?

Σ Increase: A day's contribution to overall percentage growth of COVID-19 cases/deaths.

• IE: What's the overall change in the total?

<Last Numbers for 3/26-3/28 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 3/29-4/4 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/5-4/11 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/12-4/18 in this Post>
<Last Numbers for 4/19-4/25 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 4/26-5/2 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/3-5/9 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/10-5/16 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/17-5/23 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/24-5/30 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 5/31-6/6 in this post>
<Last Numbers for 6/7-6/13 in this post>

6/14: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,162,144 (+19,920 | Δ Change: ↓21.27% | Σ Increase: ↑0.93%)
• Deaths: 117,853 (+326 | Δ Change: ↓53.56% | Σ Increase: ↑0.28%)

6/15:

• Cases: 2,182,950 (+20,806 | Δ Change: ↑4.45% | Σ Increase: ↑0.96%)
• Deaths: 118,283 (+430 | Δ Change: ↑31.90% | Σ Increase: ↑0.36%)

6/16:

• Cases: 2,208,400 (+25,450 | Δ Change: ↑22.32% | Σ Increase: ↑1.17%)
• Deaths: 119,132 (+849 | Δ Change: ↑97.44% | Σ Increase: ↑0.72%)

6/17:

• Cases: 2,234,471 (+26,071 | Δ Change: ↑2.44% | Σ Increase: ↑1.18%)
• Deaths: 119,941 (+809 | Δ Change: ↓4.71% | Σ Increase: ↑0.68%)

6/18:

• Cases: 2,263,651 (+29,180 | Δ Change: ↑11.93% | Σ Increase: ↑1.31%)
• Deaths: 120,688 (+747 | Δ Change: ↓7.66% | Σ Increase: ↑0.62%)

6/19:

• Cases: 2,297,190 (+33,539 | Δ Change: ↑14.94% | Σ Increase: ↑1.48%)
• Deaths: 121,407 (+719 | Δ Change: ↓3.75% | Σ Increase: ↑0.60%)

6/20:

• Cases: 2,330,578 (+33,388 | Δ Change: ↓0.45% | Σ Increase: ↑1.45%)
• Deaths: 121,980 (+573 | Δ Change: ↓20.31% | Σ Increase: ↑0.47%)

6/21: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,356,657 (+26,079 | Δ Change: ↓21.89% | Σ Increase: ↑1.12%)
• Deaths: 122,247 (+267 | Δ Change: ↓53.40% | Σ Increase: ↑0.22%)

6/22:

• Cases: 2,388,153 (+31,496 | Δ Change: ↑20.77% | Σ Increase: ↑1.34%)
• Deaths: 122,610 (+363 | Δ Change: ↑35.96% | Σ Increase: ↑0.30%)

6/23:

• Cases: 2,424,168 (+36,015 | Δ Change: ↑14.35% | Σ Increase: ↑1.51%)
• Deaths: 123,473 (+863 | Δ Change: ↑137.74% | Σ Increase: ↑0.70%)
• Death toll inflated by older counts recently dumped by DE

6/24:

• Cases: 2,462,554 (+38,386 | Δ Change: ↑6.18% | Σ Increase: ↑1.58%)
• Deaths: 124,281 (+808 | Δ Change: ↓6.37% | Σ Increase: ↑0.65%)

6/25:

• Cases: 2,504,588 (+42,034 | Δ Change: ↑9.50% | Σ Increase: ↑1.71%)
• Deaths: 126,780 (+2,499 | Δ Change: ↑209.28% | Σ Increase: ↑2.01%)
• Death toll inflated by older counts recently dumped by NJ

6/26:

• Cases: 2,552,940 (+48,352 | Δ Change: ↑15.03% | Σ Increase: ↑1.93%)
• Deaths: 127,640 (+860 | Δ Change: ↓65.59% | Σ Increase: ↑0.68%)
• Death Δ Change affected by older counts recently dumped by NJ on 6/25

6/27:

• Cases: 2,596,537 (+43,597 | Δ Change: ↓9.83% | Σ Increase: ↑1.71%)
• Deaths: 128,152 (+512 | Δ Change: ↓40.47% | Σ Increase: ↑0.40%)

6/28: <Sunday>

• Cases: 2,637,077 (+40,540 | Δ Change: ↓7.01% | Σ Increase: ↑1.56%)
• Deaths: 128,437 (+285 | Δ Change: ↓44.34% | Σ Increase: ↑0.22%)

6/29 (Yesterday):

• Cases: 2,681,802 (+44,725 | Δ Change: ↑10.32% | Σ Increase: ↑1.70%)
• Deaths: 128,779 (+342 | Δ Change: ↑20.00% | Σ Increase: ↑0.27%)

6/30 (Today):

• Cases: 2,727,853 (+46,051 | Δ Change: ↑2.96% | Σ Increase: ↑1.72%)
• Deaths: 130,122 (+1,343 | Δ Change: ↑292.69% | Σ Increase: ↑1.04%)

Deaths jumped by a thousand today, compared to yesterday. What explains this? Perhaps it is the inevitable outcome of the recent surge in cases which we've seen.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

So are we making progress or no? Deaths fall but fauci out here saying million new cases a day

We continue to make progress in the war on East Asia.



Scratch that, I mean West Asia.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

Deaths jumped by a thousand today, compared to yesterday. What explains this? Perhaps it is the inevitable outcome of the recent surge in cases which we've seen.

The # of daily deaths on Worldometer is 764. That actually is a decrease from last Tuesday. So this is probably a reporting issue with some backdated deaths.

Fortunately we still haven't seen deaths start to up-trend, though as my earlier post makes clear, it would be incorrect to conclude from that that they are not going to trend up (wait a week or two, at least if we have a similar experience to Iran's 2nd wave).

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

6/29 (Yesterday):

• Cases: 2,681,802 (+44,725 | Δ Change: ↑10.32% | Σ Increase: ↑1.70%)
• Deaths: 128,779 (+342 | Δ Change: ↑20.00% | Σ Increase: ↑0.27%)

6/30 (Today):

• Cases: 2,727,853 (+46,051 | Δ Change: ↑2.96% | Σ Increase: ↑1.72%)
• Deaths: 130,122 (+1,343 | Δ Change: ↑292.69% | Σ Increase: ↑1.04%)

Deaths jumped by a thousand today, compared to yesterday. What explains this? Perhaps it is the inevitable outcome of the recent surge in cases which we've seen.

Worldometers included this note today:
“On June 30, the count of New Yorkers who have died of COVID-19 increased by 692. Most of that increase is due to new information we received from the NYS Department of Health about city residents who died outside the city. The vast majority of these deaths occurred more than three weeks ago."

These were added to the total number of US deaths, but not the daily total for yesterday, which was reported as 764.  I’m a little confused about why these were added, as it seems like it would lead to double-counting in many cases.  Are the states consistent about counting deaths among residents of their state versus deaths that actually occured in that state?

[T'Chenka]

DeSantis is refusing to protect his constituents from VERY real danger and a near-guarantee of thousands of deaths. Imagine KNOWINGLY allowing a near-9/11 level deadly event take place as Governor with tons of forsight.

Lock him up.

[Del Tachi]

Completely nonsense narrative. The United States taxpayer funds a lot of this research. We get the double whammy of getting taxed for drug research and then also paying the most for drug therapies with no government price controls. That's not the rest of the world taking advantage of us, that's our own government screwing us. This has been studied but again you can be an informed person or go with lazy Republican talking points.

Fooey.  The value of private research and development dwarfs the amount of grants doled out by CDC, NIH or whoever.  The U.S. market system supports hundreds of billions of dollars in private research (because only with a profit-incentivizing system can the huge overhead costs of drug development be justified).  Patients in other countries then get to import drugs that wouldn't exist if not for the American for-profit system at deeply discounted rates due to price ceilings.

That's not the U.S. government 'screwing' us, it's the reality that only a system like the U.S.' provides the necessary incentives to power the innovation needed to lengthen global life expectancy, decrease disease incidence, and improve quality of life. 

 Why has The United States life expectancy dropped for 3 years in a row when all other industrialized nations have risen?

 And I will state again the role of The United States in drug innovation has been researched and studied, feel free to do a google search and inform yourself with an unbiased view or keep spouting talking points.

Too rich, man.  I am familiar with the research that shows it takes an estimated $2.5B in expected revenue to move a drug to market or that higher prices resulting frommarket exclusivity under the Orphan Drug Act dramatically increased the number of compounds brought into development to treat rare diseases.  The U.S. has patented more than 50% of the world's NCEs since 2001, a position it overtook from European firms who used to dominate the pharmaceutical market during the 1970s-80s.  It's obvious that U.S. profit incentives support the type of research needed to move new drugs and therapies to market on a global scale.   

Even more critically during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S.' has more ventilators and ICU beds per capita than any other country in the OECD.  U.S. providers succeed at providing higher-cost critical care because the profit incentives make investment in such services economically feasible.  That's a major reason why our death rates/1M remain much lower than single-payer countries with chronic health system underinvestment like Spain and Italy.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Well I definitely spoke to soon yesterday about the numbers looking a bit better in Arizona.   Both the case and death figure there are absolutely terrible.  Florida still seems like it might have stabilized, with still no noticeable increase in week-over-week deaths.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Well I definitely spoke to soon yesterday about the numbers looking a bit better in Arizona.   Both the case and death figure there are absolutely terrible.  Florida still seems like it might have stabilized, with still no noticeable increase in week-over-week deaths.

Arizona was always going to be a nightmare waiting to happen because of how many retirees there are there. Florida as well, although at least there the old and young areas of the state are kind of separate.