Our Response to COVID-19: Information
Globally
Good evening,

August 14, 2020 -- The UK and Spain have recently altered their reporting process and revised their COVID-19 data downward. The UK reduced its fatalities reports by 5,377, updated to 41,368 at the end of the day. Spain reduced its infections report by 23,943, revising its pandemic spread to 358,843 cases, ranking second to Russia in Europe, and tenth globally. The US ended the work week with a daily report above 60,000 cases, a symbolic number it had not passed for eight days. The US daily count of new COVID-19 infections has been above 50,000 every day since July 1, 2020, except for three days (July 5, August 2 and 9), reaching 78,668 on July 16, which appears to be the national epidemiological curve's apex, reported a month ago. Globally, the last 7 days have confirmed 1,801,931 new infections and 39,065 related deaths. At the current growth rate, the world will have confirmed at least 30 million COVID-19 infections and will have mourned 1 million victims a month from now.

  • COVID-19 Global cases: 21,341,679 (+264,133)
  • COVID-19 Global deaths: 763,056 (+6,337)
  • COVID-19 Global death rate: 3.58%

*:incomplete data set
Tip: click on any of the graphs for larger and clearer images and click on READ MORE to view the complete articles.

Note: Please forgive the occasional typos. I write these reports at the end of the work day and I have seen them creep in, undetected by my tired evening eyes. I hope they do not bother you as much as they annoy me.
Latin America: The global epicenter of COVID-19 | cbsnews.com
The number of COVID-19 cases in Latin America and the Caribbean has positioned the region as the global epicenter of the virus. Health professionals and regional experts are warning that if nothing is done, the region will see major setbacks, including a massive rise in poverty and a rise in authoritarianism, as leaders see an opportunity to crackdown on dissent. Latin America, which accounts for 8% of the world population, has reported nearly 30% of the global fatalities.

"We are deeply concerned with how rapidly the pandemic is expanding," said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, at a recent press conference.

Reported deaths in the region have topped 230,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, putting the death toll for the region as a whole higher than that of the United States and Canada combined. If prevention measures are not maintained, the death toll could reach 438,000 by October, according to the World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas.

Brazil is the second most affected country in the world, just behind the United States, surpassing 3 million coronavirus cases and more than 105,000 deaths. President Jair Bolsonaro contracted the virus himself after refusing to wear a mask in public and continuing to hold public gatherings at the height of the crisis. Bolsonaro's wife and eight government ministers have also contracted the virus.  

Bolsanaro fully recovered and used the experience to downplay the virus saying, "What are you afraid of? Face up to it." His government's lack of response led local governments and even local gangs, to implement lockdowns of their own... READ MORE
In the US
14 States Make Contact Tracing Data Public. Here's What They're Learning | npr.org

Note: This story was updated to include Massachusetts, which began to share contact tracing data on its website on Wednesday.

When everyone who tests positive for coronavirus in your community gets a call from a public health worker asking them about their contacts and those contacts are then asked to quarantine, the process creates a powerful way to keep the virus from spreading.

But contact tracing can do more than that: At scale, the data gathered in those calls also offers vital information about where transmission is happening in a community. That data can drive policy and even guide individuals in assessing what's more or less safe to go out and do.

NPR has surveyed the health departments of all U.S. states and territories three times about contact tracing capacity — first in April, then again in mid-June, and most recently in late July. The latest survey, done in... READ MORE

  • COVID-19 USA cases: 5,476,266 (+60,600)
  • COVID-19 USA deaths: 171,535 (+1,120)
  • COVID-19 USA death rate: 3.13%
  • COVID-19 USA testing: 69,362,009 individual tests (+876,302)
  • COVID-19 USA positivity rate: 7.90%
  • COVID-19 USA single-day positivity date: 6.92%
In California
See how close your California county is to getting off — or on — the COVID-19 watch list | sacbee.com
As the California Department of Public Health continues to correct the state’s coronavirus data following the data glitch that complicated COVID-19 reporting at the beginning of August, most of the state’s 58 counties are showing elevated transmission of the virus.

Per capita case data hasn’t returned to the state’s monitoring list of counties, often called the “watchlist,” but data that is available elsewhere on the state website on Thursday showed 46 counties above the per 100,000 resident caseload required.

To avoid the list, counties must meet a number of criteria: a case rate of fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 population over the past 14 days, a positive test rate of less than 8% over the past seven days, a less than 10% increase in COVID hospitalizations over the past three days, and have more than 20% ICU beds available.

.Counties must fail these criteria for three consecutive days to be placed on the watchlist, which has been frozen at 38 counties since early August when the data glitch became known.

On Thursday, 46 counties failed to meet the cases per 100,000 threshold, 19 failed to meet the test positivity threshold.. READ MORE
  • COVID-19 California cases: 613,000 (+10,316)
  • COVID-19 California deaths: 11,148 (+152)
  • COVID-19 California death rate: 1.82%
  • COVID-19 California testing: 9,556,598 individual tests (+111,105)
  • COVID-19 California positivity rate: 6.41%
  • COVID-19 California single-day positivity rate: 9.28%
In the Central Valley
The Madera County Department of Public Health COVID-19 Update:

8/14/2020 COVID-19 UPDATE: Reporting 71 new cases bringing the total number of reported cases to 2,924. We also regret to report 1 additional death.
Of the 2,924:
  • 774 active case (including 22 Madera County residents hospitalized in Madera County)
  • 2,103 recovered (58 released from isolation)
  • 47 deceased

1 additional deceased:
  • male, 80s, underlying conditions unknown

Today, the local counties confirmed 1,518 new infections and 32 new coronavirus deaths. This was the deadliest coronavirus week since the pandemic ignited our region 22 weeks ago. COVID-19 killed 126 people in our 7 counties in the last 7 days: 1 coronavirus death every 80 minutes, while infecting 10,768 local residents, roughly 3,000 more than had been infected during the previous week. Today, Kern County reported 17 new deaths, the county's highest single day COVID-19 fatalities update yet.

Looking at the Madera image above, and the other illustrations below, you easily see that we are still on the ascent of the spread's epidemiological graph and have yet to flatten our local curve. Our friends and neighbors are needlessly dying, many families are suffering. Science and the courage to follow its logic will solve this pandemic, any other discourse is useless.
COVID-19 in Madera + 6 local counties (+% is the positivity rate)

  • Mariposa: 64 cases, 2 deaths, 4,383 tests, 1.46+%
  • Merced: 6,777 cases (+216), 89 deaths, 34,889 tests, 19.42+%
  • Madera: 2,924 cases (+71), 47 deaths (+1), 30,761 tests, 9.51+%
  • Fresno: 19,157 cases (+467), 203 deaths (+12), 161,497 tests, 11.86+%
  • Tulare: 12,105 cases (+258), 205 deaths, est. 86,464 tests, 14.00+%
  • Kings: 5,243 cases (+116), 64 deaths (+2), 31,246 tests, 16.78+%
  • Kern: 25,888 cases (+389), 204 deaths (+17) PEAK, 150,884 tests, 17.16+%

COVID-19 in the 7 counties together

  • 7 counties cases: 72,158 (+1,518)
  • 7 counties deaths: 814 (+32)
  • 7 counties death rate: 1.13%
  • 7 Counties tests: 500,124 (est.)
  • 7 Counties positivity rate: 14.43%
From our hearts to yours,

Fredo and Renee Martin
Workingarts Marketing, inc.
+1-559-662-1119

PS: We welcome comments and questions. If you wish to review previous reports, we now host past issues here.