COVID-19 - Just The Facts. Just Three Facts
By Brian WoolfJuly 9, 2020
"Just the facts, ma'am" Was Joe Friday's famous line, used in every 'Dragnet' television episode 60-odd years ago. It's a memorable line that works for Covid-19 (CV), too.
Just the facts. In CV's case, just three numbers - that turn into percentages - which clearly tell us the state of Covid-19 in every state of America and in every country throughout the world.
The numbers? - Population. Cases. Deaths.
And the percentages? -
· Cases as % of Population
· Deaths as % of Cases
· Deaths as % of Population
[Note: "cases" are people who have been infected with the virus, ranging from mildly to severely.]
Worldometers, a real - time, stats - gathering website is a primary sources of global CV information. Using their YTD data on June 30, we found this data for our 50 states:
1. Population (50 states): 330,600,00
2. Cases (CV infections): 2,634,399
3. Deaths (CV): 126,425
From which we can calculate the following percentages:
· Cases as % of Population (2/1): 0.8% (Rounded = 1.0%)
· Deaths as % of Cases (3/2): 4.8% (Rounded = 5.0%)
· Deaths as % of Population (3/1): 0.038% (Rounded = 0.05%)
From these three percentages we see what actually happened in the US, YTD Jun 30:
· Only 1% of Americans were infected
· Of this 1% of the population, only 5% died from CV
· That is 5 one-hundredths of 1% of all Americans
[Note: five one hundredths of 1% of 10,000 is 5.]
Which can be expressed this way...
Imagine a town of 10,000 people in your state. Well, in the first half of 2020, it lost 5 people to CV, ie, on average, 1 person a month.
Which is quite a different reality than what the daily news headlines scream.
But those three numbers are the reality. Those are the facts, as Joe would say ... to help us as we seek to understand our country's CV challenges and future.
About the author...
Besides a full business life in retailing, and later, loyalty marketing, the other part of Brian Woolf's life has been filled with diverse interests: particularly speaking (including Toastmasters), travel (including all seven continents), and reading (including history). And he has written seven books sharing what he has learned along the journey. Ask him, two favorite trips? Antarctica and the Nile. Ask him, two favorite books? The Lessons of History (Will & Ariel Durant) and Over the Edge of the World (Laurence Bergreen). He loves learning and sharing.