Crisis Continues to Worsen

Over the past week, the U.S. surpassed 4 million covid infections, more than 25% of the world's total, despite having only 4.3% of the world's population. We are also on track to surpass 150,000 deaths by the end of the day. These grim milestones can be blamed on oligarchy's relentless drive to force people back to work under unsafe conditions and their unwillingness to provide any financial relief to the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, as well as Donald Trump's continual lies about safety, the science of covid, and his undermining of the scientific experts.

There are now 12 states in the Critical Red zone (>25 new daily infections per 100,000 residents), with California poised to join this rogue's gallery soon, and 23 in the orange. According to Harvard's Path to Zero website, regions in the Red need to implement immediate lock downs, and those in the Orange are strongly recommended to do so, both to bring down cases to a manageable level and not overwhelm hospitals, but also to reach the Green zone, where an opening of the economy can be more effectively monitored and controlled. This means that 70% of the country needs to immediately lock down (compared with 64% just 5 days ago). Indeed, health experts have been saying for days that the entire country needs to shut down.

California, which once led the nation in caution, now has had more covid cases than any other state, including New York. 71% of its counties are now in the Critical Red or Dangerous Orange zones and require immediate lock down.

It is clear from the map that U.S. and South America are the hardest hit regions of the world, but the WHO just announced on Friday that Europe's premature lifting of restrictions is driving a resurgence of infections there. Eastern Europe has been particularly hard hit, with record or near record daily infections in Romania and Ukraine, and 5,000 or more daily infections in Russia.

From Bad to Dire: 64% of U.S Requires Immediate Stay-at-Home Orders

As you can see from the map, the U.S. no longer has any green states (On Track for Containing the Virus), whereas less than 2 weeks ago, we still did. 32 states are now in the Red (>25 new daily infections per 100,000 residents) or Orange zones (10-24 new daily infections per 100,000 residents), or 64% of the country, and should implement Stay-at-Home orders, according to Harvard's Path to Zero website. This is a 10% increase over 4 days ago, and a 52% increase in the past week!

California now has 16 counties in the critical red zone (a 33% increase over 4 days ago), and 20 countries in the dangerous orange zone, for a total of 36 counties (61% of the state) requiring immediate mandatory lock downs in order to bring the infection rate back to a manageable rate. Additionally, while the state had 6 counties in the green zone (less than 1 new daily infection per 100,000 residents, and on track for containment) just 4 days ago, it now has only 3, indicating that even its most remote and sparsely populated regions are getting slammed and that the state is moving further away from containment.

Pandemic Spiraling Out of Control

Four days ago, there were 7 states in the critical Red Zone (over 25 daily new infections per 100,000 residents) averaged over the past seven days, a critical situation which researchers at Harvard say should trigger automatic mandatory lockdowns. In none of these states has a statewide lockdown been implemented. Now there are 11 states in the red zone (as of 7/14/20), with Arkansas and California poised to join this group by the end of the week. Yesterday, the nation broke the world's one-day record with 71,750 new infections, according to Worldometer, while California, Florida and Texas chalked up 9,687, 10,181 and 12,235 new infections respectively.

The number states entering the dangerous Orange Zone, where the Harvard researchers say statewide lockdowns are highly recommended, has also been on the rise. Four days ago, there were 14 states in the orange, or 21 states in the red/orange zones combined. Now there are 26 states in the red/orange zones combined, or more than half the country that should be in lockdown.

Continued Worsening: 8 States Now in the Red; CA & NV Poised to Join Club

Data from 7/11/20