Number of Coronavirus Cases Increase. What Does that Mean?

I’m going to keep this short.

The number of diagnosed Coronavirus cases in the USA has increased dramatically over the weekend. In fact, it appears to be going up hourly.

I say “appears to be” because the numbers can be a bit alarmist and deceiving. Here’s why.

1. Testing for the virus is just now really going online. That means that we are officially “diagnosing” a lot of people who have had the virus for some time. Instead of indicating a rapid upturn in infections in the past couple of days, this gives us a picture of what we’ve really been dealing with for quite a while but couldn’t officially confirm.
2. The people who are being diagnosed now were exposed to the virus a week to 10 days ago. They did not catch the illness this weekend. 

It’s easy to get alarmed by this sudden upshoot in diagnosed cases. But remember that diagnosis lags infection by a week to 10 days. I believe the measures we have taken by staying home will begin to clock in a few days from now. Hopefully, we will see the number of new cases level off and then begin to drop. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped rapidly.

I am proud of you for the way you have responded to this threat. People are staying home. That’s what we need to do.

Stay calm.

Be happy.

Enjoy your cable tv and the blessings of home.

Be well.

We’re gonna beat this thing.