Most of the world is opening up again, having been
through what appears to be the worst of Covid-19, at least the first wave.
Notable by its failure to negotiate the disease, the US is still seeing its
infections rates climb at a record pace.
We have been fortunate in Alberta that infections have
been kept relatively low, compared to many parts of the world. But that does
not mean we are out of the woods by any means. Recently, as rules regarding
social distancing and business reopening have been relaxed, there have been
disturbing increases in numbers of new cases. There have also been a couple of
localized outbreaks, one in an Edmonton hospital.
While the situations are under control, warnings are
coming from Alberta health officials that we should not relax our habits of adhering
to basic protocols and continue to stay 2 m from each other, wear masks in
public and wash hands regularly. These simple remedies have proven to be
successful so are and we can or may avoid a major new wave of infections if we
stay the course.
The infection rates and deaths in Canada, while far
from acceptable, pale in comparison to our neighbor to the south. For the past
few weeks, major regions report ever increasing daily records in new case
numbers. For a country which is arguable the most technologically advanced in
the world, the lack of control over the virus in the United States is
remarkable. And there appears to be no end in sight as new cases rise by 60,000
to 70,000 per day and deaths by 600per day. States that did not take rigorous (and
sensible) precautions in physical distancing and delayed opening of businesses
and public areas are reaping the worst consequences of the pandemic.
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Cases per 100,000 residents by county and county equivalents
at 15 July 2020
If anyone doubts the seriousness of what can happen
with this disease, they should watch a graph unfold that compares deaths from
Covid-19 to many different diseases and other causes here.
The world now has over 13 million confirmed cases of
Covid-19 and nearly 600,000 people have died from it (+4% of total infections).
Graph of daily new cases and deaths demonstrate that this pandemic is continuing
at an alarming rate.
We have exceeded the Swine Flu of 2009 in terms of deaths. Do
the effects of this virus come close to those of the 1918 Spanish Flu or the
1981 to present HIV? Let’s hope we never get there.
