US COVID Update - The Stock Market Tanks.
On Thursday the stock markets tanked because there was "a spike in new COVID-19 cases" That was total, and I mean total, BS. Even if you limit the "spike" to Texas (see my previous post), Florida, and Arizona it is still crap. It is, in my not so humble opinion, a fraud on the public.
In the US, the 7 day MA for cases since June 1 has been basically flat around 150K (21K/day) while the number of tests has increased steadily from 2.8M (400K/day) to 3.3M (440K/day). The % positive has dropped from 5.5% on June 2 to 4.0% today, June 15. That is a hell of a (28%) drop, not a daggone "spike". (I will link to a WSJ report on the situation in TX, FL, and AZ at the bottom of this entry.) The R0 in the US has been at or below 1.0 in all but a couple of states (WA and VT) for almost a month now.
The new deaths in the US 7 day MA for today at 5300 is the lowest it has been since APRIL 2!!!!! The 7 day MA for June has declined from 6600 to 5300 in just 12 days (and from 13,800 on Apr 17). That is a drop of 20% from June 1 til today and a drop of 62% since the actual peak. THERE HAS BEEN NO DAMN SPIKE IN NEW DEATHS ANYWHERE IN ANY OF THE 50 STATES!!!
Sorry about the yelling but this has seriously made me angry.
Why lie about what the data says?
In addition, hospitalizations are down nationwide and in almost every state, and no state is reporting anything near capacity use of ICU beds or ventilators. Come on. Look at the data.
TX and FL have been essentially flat in cases while increasing tests by nearly double. And in both states deaths are still trending down. In TX the death rate seems to be flattening, but at about 1/3 of its peak. AZ is testing heavily in the Reservations and finding many new cases there.
IOW, someone is deliberately, it seems to me. distorting any reasonable interpretation of the data. The overall lines are trending down over the past month with some slight flattening in a few states THAT ALREADY HAD LOW RATES AT THEIR SO-CALLED "PEAK"!
I am thoroughly sick and tired of the manipulation of the interpretations (and sometimes of the data) by parties with an apparent agenda. We need true, honest data and interpretation of that data if we want to effectively fight the pandemic.
We still need to act responsibly to the situation, but distorted interpretations are hardly any kind of responsible. It sure looks to me like someone is trying t cause panic again.
In any rate, don't let scary "news" reports get to you. Even though I don't trust the current data for several reasons, the patterns even in that data don't say what the Chicken Littles say they do.
Here's the link to the WSJ Report: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-second-wave-covid-scare-11591919250