28 APRIL 2020, NOTES

Greetings, blog reader, on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. We are nearing the end of April. Will anyone be sad to see this month end?

We have been following the data in Worldometer in search of a discernible pattern in the pandemic upon us. Continuing with two-day increments, we can see a trend emerging, and it is a welcomed one. While the disease is spreading and killing more people, the rate of the spread is definitely declining. 

In the last two days, April 26-28, in the world, 3,080,101 cases were reported, a rise of 145,463, or 5%. This is down from the previous two days' 7% rise. As for deaths in the world, there were 8,582 in the past two days, for a rising rate of 4%. This is below the earlier two days' 6% rise. In all, 212,265 people in the world have died of the plague, all withing the last six months.

As for the United States, the coronavirus continues to spread but at a lessening pace. There are now over one million reported cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. In the last two days there were 49,611 new cases reported, for a rising rate of 5%. This is significantly less than the earlier two days' 8%. As for deaths in the U.S., there were 2,538 in the last two days, a rising rate of 5%, well below the earlier two days' increasing rate of 8%. In all, 56,803 Americans have died of the plague, all withing the past three and a half months.

South Carolina reported 360 new cases from April 26 to 28, for a rising rate of 7%, the same as the earlier two days. SC reports a total of 5,613 cases. 11 people died in SC of the plague in the last two days, a rate of 7%, less than the earlier two days' 11%. 177 people have died of the disease in SC. Alabama is following a similar path. There, 326 new cases were reported in the last two days, a rising rate of 5%, declining from the earlier two days' 7%. 15 people died in AL of the virus in the last two days, a rate of 7%, up slightly from the earlier 6%. 228 people have died of the virus in AL. 

SC and AL are conspicuously fortunate in the southeastern U.S. The in-between state of Georgia has suffered four or five times as much. Florida and Louisiana are even harder hit than GA although rising rates in all these states seem to be declining as well.

It is too soon to jump to any conclusion, especially since states are beginning to "re-open." We will not know for several weeks how this is going to impact the spread and mortality of the pandemic. It is concerning that the re-openings are happening when every state is seeing rising numbers of cases and deaths. However, the reported statistics are beginning to show a clear pattern of decline in the increase of the spread and the morbidity of the virus. Let us pray this is real and will continue.

Meanwhile, I continue to marvel at the little acts of kindness I see all around me, and I am sure you see too. On last Sunday, my sister's doorbell rang at 11:30 a.m. She lives in a retirement community of small apartments in Bay St. Louis. She opened the door and a woman, standing at a distance, asked if she could leave a box of lunch. The people of a local AME church had gotten up at dawn and cooked a feast for hundreds of people who needed a good hot meal. They were out delivering from door to door. My sister said it was the best meal she had had in memory. There is amazing grace, yet again.

Remember, friends, we are here for the living of this hour. Peace.

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P.S. In the "What Were They Thinking?" category, a bank clerk took this photo to show us it is not a good idea to try to disinfect money in the microwave: