Have we finally turned the corner on Covid deaths?

 

It looks like the numbers for deaths are finally coming down again. Notice that April’s deaths were less than half of March’s. That’s the biggest one-month percentage drop of the pandemic. On the other hand, new cases were up in April over March (1,271,214 vs. 1,112,121).

But on the other other hand (and no, I don’t have three hands), both March and April had huge declines in new cases vs. February (4,032,866) and January (20,920,881) – and by the way, January’s new cases were close to three times the previous monthly record, and close to ten times what’s probably the average monthly figure for the pandemic. Shows you how monstrous the omicron wave was.

So we’re finally at a point where deaths are coming down and probably staying down. There are new omicron variants that are even more transmissible and will be sweeping the country soon, but if you’re vaccinated and boosted (with two boosters for us old folks) your chances of hospitalization are quite low.

Although it seems that even having had omicron (and about half the people in the US caught it) doesn’t protect you against the new omicron variants very much. Meaning you still have a good chance of getting sick, even if you’re vaccinated and you’ve had omicron previously. And that means you shouldn’t let up on mask wearing in indoor spaces, and especially if you have to travel.

Speaking of travel, it looks like the Biden administration has decided not to appeal the decision of the goofy Trump judge who struck down the mask mandate on transportation. But now the CDC says you should wear one anyway. I’d listen to the CDC, not a judge who says that government can’t mandate any health measures at all.

So goodbye vaccines in schools, cleanliness standards in restaurants, etc. Who needs public transportation, schools or restaurants, anyway?

The numbers

These numbers were updated based on those reported on the Worldometers.info site for Sunday, May 1.

Month

Deaths reported during month/year

Avg. deaths per day during month/year

Deaths as percentage of previous month/year

Month of March 2020

4,058

131

 

Month of April

59,812

1,994

1,474%

Month of May

42,327

1,365

71%

Month of June

23,925

798

57%

Month of July

26,649

860

111%

Month of August

30,970

999

116%

Month of Sept.

22,809

760

75%

Month of Oct.

24,332

785

107%

Month of Nov.

38,293

1,276

157%

Month of Dec.

79,850

2,576

209%

Total 2020

354,215

1,154

 

Month of Jan. 2021

98,604

3,181

119%

Month of Feb.

68,918

2,461

70%

Month of March

37,945

1,224

55%

Month of April

24,323

811

64%

Month of May

19,843

661

82%

Month of June

10,544

351

53%

Month of July

8,833

287

84%

Month of August

31,160

1,005

351%

Month of Sept.

56,687

1,890

182%

Month of Oct.

49,992

1,613

88%

Month of Nov.

38,364

1,279

77%

Month of Dec.

41,452

1,337

108%

Total 2021

492,756

1,350

158%

Month of Jan. 2022

65,855

2,124

159%

Month of Feb. 2022

63,451

2,266

96%

Month of March 2022

31,427

1,014

50%

Month of April 2022

13,297

443

42%

Total Pandemic so far

1,021,374

1,313

 

 

I. Total deaths (as of Sunday)

Total US reported Covid deaths as of Sunday: 1,021,374

Average daily deaths last seven days: 379

Average daily deaths previous seven days: 467

Percent increase in total deaths in the last seven days: 0.3%

II. Total reported cases (as of Sunday)

Total US reported cases as of Sunday: 83,162,369

Increase in reported cases last 7 days: 415,194 (59,313/day)

Increase in reported cases previous 7 days: 430,827 (61,547/day)

Percent increase in reported cases in the last seven days: 0.3% (0.3% last week)

I would love to hear any comments or questions you have on this post. Drop me an email at tom@tomalrich.com.

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