Living with a pandemic – 41

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.

 

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.