My first blog post on the #coronavirus #pandemic was just two week ago. Friday, March 6, 2020 there were 75 known cases in the State of Washington and six deaths. Three days later, 116 cases and 22 deaths. Today, 1,524 cases and 79 deaths.
Globally, the total is 172,970 cases and 11,256 deaths.
The global graph two weeks ago looked like this:
Today it looks like this:
The scale in the two graphs isn’t the same. The scale has had to almost double in two weeks to fit the new reality. And that new reality includes the fact that China has its outbreak under control and the only country that can seriously say the same is South Korea.
Exponential growth is unintuitive. If you’ve still not watch 3Blue1Brown to get some feel for how it works, do that now. If you still think this is going to all get better in a few weeks, read The Hammer and the Dance to drop another level down the rabbit hole.
At this point, given the irresponsible responses by the United States and Western Europe, pandemic is the new normal for months to come, and the numbers are going to get much bigger and scarier before we see the light at the end of this tunnel.
Stay home. Stay safe. Stay healthy.