Healthcare
I have been struggling for several months with attempting to understand the value of having banned travel from China into the USA at the beginning of February, and its effect on COVID-19 infections in this country. As with all my previous essays, I do not want to...
For several weeks I have been examining the current administration’s approach to fighting COVID-19, and have concluded that the underlying strategy has been that the best way to get back to normal is to allow the virus to run its course, as quickly as possible,...
Extremely encouraging news from Pfizer this morning relating to their mRNA vaccine, Phase 3 testing results. I thought that it would be valuable to look at what Pfizer has said and try to project and understand the results that were announced. Please understand that...
I had reported, at the end of September, that there were some encouraging signs. Unfortunately, once again this country has squandered those positive trends and we are back on a discouraging track. I have reported on two pieces of data; positivity rates and deaths...
The media has become obsessed with the numbers of new cases reported each day. In this case Mr. Trump is mostly correct. The more tests you do, the more cases you will identify. That is just a mathematical fact. It takes a little more analysis to understand those...
All news this month is not bad. Sometimes there are actually encouraging signs. This is the situation now at the beginning of October. I want to take this opportunity to report on two positive signs with respect to the virus. The first is the continuing death rates....
I have made this point in the past. Today the data I want to share with you makes the point crystal clear. There is only one graph attached here. In this analysis I have compared the number of deaths recorded per day since July 1 with the Positivity Rates of tests...
Over the past week there have been conflicting statements from our politicians on the upcoming availability of vaccines for COVID-19. We all hope for successful tests that demonstrate effective and safe use of the new vaccines being developed. I want to take this...
Thursday Sept. 10, 4 pm. I just listened to Mr. Trump say once again that the USA is doing great and that there is a tremendous surge in deaths in Spain, France and the rest of Europe. He used percentage increases of 400% and more to suggest that the virus is...
Before I begin, I want to emphasize that I am not writing this with any political intensions. This is not an essay with any focus on whether Democrats or Republicans have handled the COVID-19 pandemic better or worse based on their politics. However, it is...
Here is the best example yet of the problem with case reporting data. As Mr. Trump said, if you test more you will find more cases. This is an absolute truism. Testing results in identification, not creation. If you read an eBook on your iPad and you increase...
Some notes at the end of August 2020. The attached chart shows the deaths in the US since the middle of March from COVID-19. In this case I have charted the average daily deaths per week since then to be able to compare month to month changes. I believe that this is...