Good news: U.S. case drop is accelerating. Would love to see us average less than 10k new cases a day, and it looks like we might by later this month. Still losing hundreds of people every day. Almost all recent deaths are unvaccinated folks. If we can get the daily average under 100 deaths that would effectively end the pandemic here in the U.S. We’d be at influenza levels of deaths (well, in a bad year).
More good news: The European continent continues to see progress, t.hough the case drop is not as fast as the U.S.
Uneven progress: We observe uneven progress in Asia, with India improving, albeit at very high case, hospitalization, and death numbers, while other nations like Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan deterioriate, albeit from a very low baseline
Slightly troubling sign: Almost doubling of new cases across the UK in two weeks time. Hospitalizations are rising, too, but not nearly as fast. Something to keep our eyes on.
Continent going in the wrong direction: Almost all of South America is back to a rapid ascent in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. For some reason the U.S. travel rules are much more strict towards Europeans – still not letting them in – than South Americans – letting most of them in. Throughout the pandemic I have found the travel rules confusing and inconsistent.
The typical U.S. consumer of healthcare probably knows more about certain epidemiological terms, like herd immunity, flattening the curve, and social distancing, than simple healthcare finance concepts, such as premium, co-payment, and deductible. This is a problem for our multi-payer healthcare system. In order for such a system to function properly the demand side needs to know what it’s doing when making health insurance choices. Right now, it’s clueless. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/06/01/us-consumers-often-lack-literacy-in-healthcare-finances/?sh=17e775dc1a14
Thanks Joshua. Insurance terms are indeed very confusing.
Note: I have only one more of your “free” articles left.
Japanese vaccination rate = 7%
U.S. vaccination rate = 50+%
Our athletes will probably be the “healthiest” participants competing. Doesn’t say much for the host country and their athletes imo.
While Japan is going through a rough stretch, its caseload has diminished somewhat in the past 7 days. Generally, Japan has done quite well in terms of its use of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as distancing, masks, and crowd limits. Overall, the death rate there is much lower than almost all industrialized nations; and certainly far lower than ours. Indeed, there’s no comparison. It’s just that now things are going better here. How quickly we forget that throughout practically the entire pandemic the U.S. has done embarrassingly poorly.
In Japan, of course, the non-pharmaceutical interventions should have been complemented by more use of vaccines. They could be doing much better. They’re aware of the issue and are trying to correct it. In the mean time, they’re using old-fashioned tools to combat the spread. This does not include lockdowns, by the way.
In terms of risk to athletes, media, and spectators, the Copa America (soccer tournament in South America) will be far more dangerous than the Olympics in Japan. Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay are spiking, with tremendous numbers of deaths. Even a country with an excellent vaccination rate, Chile, is not doing very well. The use of NPIs in these countries is negligible. I fear that the tournament will exacerbate an already awful situation. Plus, it’s winter in some of the countries in South America. And we know the impact of seasonality.
C-19 for 6-3 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Good news: U.S. case drop is accelerating. Would love to see us average less than 10k new cases a day, and it looks like we might by later this month. Still losing hundreds of people every day. Almost all recent deaths are unvaccinated folks. If we can get the daily average under 100 deaths that would effectively end the pandemic here in the U.S. We’d be at influenza levels of deaths (well, in a bad year).
More good news: The European continent continues to see progress, t.hough the case drop is not as fast as the U.S.
Uneven progress: We observe uneven progress in Asia, with India improving, albeit at very high case, hospitalization, and death numbers, while other nations like Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan deterioriate, albeit from a very low baseline
Slightly troubling sign: Almost doubling of new cases across the UK in two weeks time. Hospitalizations are rising, too, but not nearly as fast. Something to keep our eyes on.
Continent going in the wrong direction: Almost all of South America is back to a rapid ascent in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. For some reason the U.S. travel rules are much more strict towards Europeans – still not letting them in – than South Americans – letting most of them in. Throughout the pandemic I have found the travel rules confusing and inconsistent.
The typical U.S. consumer of healthcare probably knows more about certain epidemiological terms, like herd immunity, flattening the curve, and social distancing, than simple healthcare finance concepts, such as premium, co-payment, and deductible. This is a problem for our multi-payer healthcare system. In order for such a system to function properly the demand side needs to know what it’s doing when making health insurance choices. Right now, it’s clueless.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2021/06/01/us-consumers-often-lack-literacy-in-healthcare-finances/?sh=17e775dc1a14
Thanks Joshua. Insurance terms are indeed very confusing.
Note: I have only one more of your “free” articles left.
Japanese vaccination rate = 7%
U.S. vaccination rate = 50+%
Our athletes will probably be the “healthiest” participants competing. Doesn’t say much for the host country and their athletes imo.
While Japan is going through a rough stretch, its caseload has diminished somewhat in the past 7 days. Generally, Japan has done quite well in terms of its use of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as distancing, masks, and crowd limits. Overall, the death rate there is much lower than almost all industrialized nations; and certainly far lower than ours. Indeed, there’s no comparison. It’s just that now things are going better here. How quickly we forget that throughout practically the entire pandemic the U.S. has done embarrassingly poorly.
In Japan, of course, the non-pharmaceutical interventions should have been complemented by more use of vaccines. They could be doing much better. They’re aware of the issue and are trying to correct it. In the mean time, they’re using old-fashioned tools to combat the spread. This does not include lockdowns, by the way.
In terms of risk to athletes, media, and spectators, the Copa America (soccer tournament in South America) will be far more dangerous than the Olympics in Japan. Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay are spiking, with tremendous numbers of deaths. Even a country with an excellent vaccination rate, Chile, is not doing very well. The use of NPIs in these countries is negligible. I fear that the tournament will exacerbate an already awful situation. Plus, it’s winter in some of the countries in South America. And we know the impact of seasonality.
C-19 for 6-3 is ready.