COVID-19 Cases Are Skyrocketing, But Deaths Are Flat—So Far. These 5 Charts Explain Why

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U.S. COVID-19 Cases Are Skyrocketing, But Deaths Are Flat—So Far. These 5 Charts Explain Why

Widespread testing is not the entire reason for U.S. cases going up . But if more people are getting infected, a robust testing system can help uncover that trend—and that’s a good thing. Having better data helps researchers estimate the prevalence of the virus in a community, while rapid testing also allows people to protect others by isolating after they’ve been in contact with someone who tested positive.

Because the U.S. is now doing more testing, this metric is more useful today than it was earlier in the pandemic, at least to assess general trends. And what we’re seeing now is a declining case-fatality rate, stemming from rising case counts and flat death death counts.In early March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began encouraging communities with reported COVID-19 cases to enforce social distancing to limit face-to-face contact.

Such measures have paid off for the broader population, too. While masks and social distancing can’t always prevent 100% of exposure to COVID-19, they can reduce the amount of viral particles a person is exposed to. They will then carry a smaller “viral load” in their systems, making them less likely to become severely ill.

In the first weeks of the pandemic, the virus tore through assisted-living facilities and nursing homes, where lots of vulnerable elderly people lived. As a result, the death count skyrocketed. But over time, as the virus spread in places like bars and college campuses, the share of U.S. COVID-19 cases have skewed younger, meaning many of those becoming infected are less vulnerable to severe illness.

The number of younger people contracting the virus continues to grow, contributing to the rise in overall cases. Yet because they are less vulnerable to the virus, they are not driving up the number of deaths in tandem. Pharmaceutical companies have been racing to discover and produce drugs to treat COVID-19 patients since the onset of the pandemic. On Oct. 22, for example, the U.S.

 

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