Considerable Covid progress in one state

[SincereOnlineGuy]

 

When Covid began in the Americas...   the first 6 reported deaths were each within a 3-mile radius in a suburban Seattle city.  Not long after, a woman who had been on a cruise boat in/adjacent-to California died of Covid, and when she did, it was the first death in all of 'The Americas'  (Tierra del Fuego to Canada/Greenland, etc.) outside of one county in Washington state.

 

As of March 9, the now-familiar Covid Dashboard listed only 

Hubei, China

Italy

Iran

South Korea

and Spain

in front of  "King County, Washington state"      

 

on the Covid death count.

 

 

As of October 17/18, 

Washington State presently ranks 44th highest of the 50 states in 

Covid cases per 100,000 residents.

and 39th highest among the 50 states in

Covid deaths per 100,000 residents.

 

This is largely because our Governor has kept his foot on the brakes for a long, much-needed time, he in part further jolted by huge Covid outbreaks in the central Washington county where he lived for many years.  Towns there, which reported up to 20% of everybody in one town of 5000 having at some point tested positive for Covid, were greatly affected in part due to the many workers in the fruit-growing industry who reside in densely populated living quarters.  For that county, the Governor kept tight restrictions in place and the residents responded wonderfully well and those numbers that had been growing by leaps and bounds, have slowed to a trickle for a long while now.

 

In contrast to that, states all over the midwest are presently being overrun by Covid, some in significant reaction to the Sturgis motorcycle rally in August.

 

One particular county in the upper midwest has reported case counts as follows: 

 

May   15    -    12 total cases in the county

June  17   -     20 

July   17   -     69

Aug  18    -   230

Sept 18    -   359 

Oct     2    -   531

Oct   16   -   673  total cases in the county

 

(and suddenly that county has more cases per capita than does the original early leader)

That's just a random county whose numbers I follow.      Were I to find numbers from most anywhere in Mississippi or Louisiana it would dwarf anything I've mentioned.

 

But it's the snowballing trend  that is the giant concern.

Maybe your neighbors will continue to help the trend snowball, but YOU don't have to... and it was diligent mask-wearing that turned the tide in the renegade counties in eastern Washington once their numbers began to erupt, all inspired by a Governor who stood his ground.

 

Some of the alarming upward Covid trends around American states are a function of better weather, and of people taking make-do vacation trips when limited by Covid restrictions.  But the case counts and upward spirals are far-reaching enough now that anybody with any analytical powers at all should be able to reason that your merely getting  Covid isn't too great a concern (to the society at large)...   it's your transporting Covid to others  that just needs to be avoided at all costs.

By now most anybody should be able to look within a few counties of most any single spot to find remarkable statistical increases in Covid's presence in those counties, and it is most probable that it's coming to your county too in great numbers even if it isn't there already.

My last original thread in this Covid category documented a great study of mask usage relating to a hair salon in middle America from a few months ago.   Masks protected everyone, and they had a unique ability to survey more than 100 salon customers with none of them having acquired Covid from 2 hair stylists who each had Covid during those 100+ appointments.

One Covid-infected stylist gave Covid to the other during unmasked interaction in their personal lives, but nobody else at the salon got Covid (neither other stylists nor customers) and several people in the homes of each infected stylist got Covid for the stylists having not worn masks at home.

 

Even the people who live out in the heartland need to receive and react sensibly to the message or else it will get a lot worse out there.

 

States in the American heartland are already leading the league by far in the 

"Covid cases per capita" stakes.

In order they are at present:

North Dakota

Louisiana

South Dakota

Mississippi

Alabama

Florida

Iowa

Tennessee

Arkansas

Georgia

South Carolina

Arizona

Nebraska

Texas

Idaho

Utah

Nevada

Wisconsin

Illinois

Oklahoma

 

are the top 20 states now.

 

The population centers on either coast (aside from FL and GA) are making considerable progress.  It should be relatively easy to achieve better numbers in the heartland when you're not made to live one on top of another as is so often the case along the coasts.

 

But it takes an effort...      maybe save your grandmother's life with your effort...  (or the grandmother of your child's life).

 

You can do it.

 

[SincereOnlineGuy]

And now, Covid's original hotspot in all of The Americas...

 

has the lowest Covid numbers per capita of all of the 50 most populated counties in the U.S.

 

So don't give up...   but you and your communities have to do the work and make the sacrifices.

 

OR you can listen to the clueless who are still spouting about their freedoms, and telling you that masks don't work, and about how their business has failed 4 times since the beginning of March.

You have the freedom  to adopt common sense, or to ignore common sense.