Good evening,

July 7, 2020 -- As you can see on the global graphs below, three curves of cumulative cases are not only dominating the world, but are also bending upward, distancing themselves from other countries': the US, Brazil, and India are raging global epicenters of the pandemic with unmistakable acceleration trends. Other countries are also reaching near peaks, but are nowhere near exhibiting the progressions or featuring the stunning case quantities observed in the top three countries. As most of Europe is now settling into the new normal of COVID-19 spread management, including the now reliable plateau documented in Russia, all awaiting the release and massive availability of a vaccine, other geographies are contributing increasing infection counts. Argentina, Colombia, Israel, Iraq peaked today while Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Chile, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Egypt all released high enough numbers to add up to the second worst daily report with 211,102 new cases and 5,948 new victims of the deadly virus.

*: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 typos creep in undetected by my tired evening eyes. I hope they do not bother you as much as they annoy me.

The United States confirmed 369,650 new cases in the last week and today's 55,504 new infections count was 227 shy of the country's July 2 peak.

As it did yesterday, Texas' new daily cases peaked again, and also peaked in its single-day death report. As we all know by now, death counts follow rising case reports by about two weeks, and Texas is now starting to release higher fatality number: last week's daily COVID-19 fatality reports from Texas averaged 37 deaths. Yesterday Texas reported 67 deaths, and today, 84 more Texans lost their battle with the virus. Nationally, the same math, using last week's data, adds up to a daily average of 515 deaths, but today, COVID-19 killed 993 Americans, almost twice the weekly average. The national case numbers started to climb around the 20th of June and we are now peaking two weeks later. Oklahoma, the site of the first post shelter-in-place political rally, also started to climb in the middle of June and experienced a troubling spike today, two weeks after the rally. As Dr. Fauci confirmed, we are not in the second wave; we never left the first one because we did not bring the curve down to the baseline that would have marked the end of the wave.

The Madera County Department of Public Health announced this evening that 15 more of our county's residents were confirmed infected with COVID-19 today and 56 yesterday, bringing our county total 784 cases. Today, following the Pandemic Resilience Roadmap, the county's Public Health Officer ordered the temporary closure of indoor services businesses identified as particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, throughout Madera County, for a minimum period of three weeks. These businesses include "bars, pubs, breweries, brewpubs, dine-in restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and cardrooms."

Six of the seven local counties reported new cases today, adding up to 827 new infections and 12 new COVID-19 deaths in the central valley. COVID-19 has killed 360 residents from our area, and the local infections total 22,797. Fresno county leads the 7 counties with 6,924 cases, adding 325 new cases and 3 deaths today to our region's lugubrious tally. The vicious coronavirus also killed 3 more residents in Tulare, 2 in Kern, and 4 in Kings county.

Note: The tests information was estimated because Tulare and Merced counties do not explicitly share the data (only occasionally in Merced press releases), however, the positivity rate is available in the Merced County dashboard and the state of California also publishes the Tulare positivity rate, which enabled me to estimate the tests quantities.

Madera + 6 local counties

7 counties together