The Corona Virus May 3, 2020

There are currently 1,183,970 reported case in the US and 68,197 deaths.

New York has 323,232 cases and 24,708 deaths
New Jersey has 126,744 cases and 7,871 deaths
Massachusetts has 68,087 cases and 3,846 deaths
Illinois has 61,521 and 2,622 deaths
California has 54,732 cases and 2,212 deaths

There are several ways to look as the progression of this pandemic. The first is in absolute number of cases. The second is in percentage increase and the 3rd is in percentage of positive tests. I've been tracking US, New Jersey and Bergen County numbers and if you consider them on a weekly basis some patterns start to appear.

US Cases and Percentage Increase
March 30 - April 5 -- 196,983, 155.5%
April 6 - April 12 ---- 226,490, 66.7%
April 13 - April 19 -- 206,029, 36.4%
April 20 - April 26 -- 215,086, 27.9%
April 27 - May 3 ---- 196,669, 19.9%

The US cases are flat. The percentages are dropping because the numbers are against an ever increasing base. The other question is whether the number is limited by testing.

New Jersey Cases, Percentage Increase and Positive Tests
March 30 - April 5 -- 24,119, 180.2%, 51.8%
April 6 - April 12 ---- 24,345, 64.9%, 54.6%
April 13 - April 19 -- 23,451, 37.9%, 53.4%
April 20 - April 26 -- 23,737, 27.8%, 45.3%
April 27 - May 3 ---- 17,706, 16.2%, 34.1%

New Jersey is in a slightly different situation because we know that the percentage of positive tests is dropping and the number of testing per week has increased from about 45,000 in the first three weeks to 52,000 in the last two weeks. That's still not enough though.

Bergen County Cases and Percentage Increase
March 30 - April 5 -- 4,018, 185.2%
April 6 - April 12 ---- 3,597, 58.1%
April 13 - April 19 -- 2,855, 29.2%
April 20 - April 26 -- 2,326, 18.4%
April 27 - May 3 ---- 1,220,   8.2%

Bergen County was the hardest hit county in New Jersey but clearly things have slowed down there. What will happen when the economy starts to re-open is anyone's guess.

As states allow businesses to open and relax the various forms of "stay home" orders we will have to see how things go.

The antibiotic helped my tooth but I had some serious sinus upset. I started taking Sudafed which seems to have helped but now I have a nasty drip into my throat. It's just one thing after another. We spent most of the day trying to air out the house. The air quality in here has to suck.