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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Florida Suffers 2nd Day Of 11k New Cases As Positivity Rate Declines: Live Updates

Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.

Summary:

  • Florida sees 2nd day of 11k+ positivity rate drops to 12.4%
  • NY releases latest daily numbers
  • UK cases creep higher, deaths flat
  • In Sweden, only 70 COVID deaths involved ppl under 49
  • Kudlow says Trump will not tolerate US shutdown
  • Latest remdesivir news sends futures surging
  • World suffers 3rd straight record jump in COVID-19 cases
  • US sees deaths top 800 for third straight day
  • US reports 2nd straight record jump
  • Philippines reports daily record
  • Ariz Gov orders indoor dining at max 50% capacity
  • Tokyo reports another daily record
  • Hong Kong closes schools
  • Texas Gov warns outbreak going to get worse, pleads with people to wear masks

* * *

Update (1100ET): Florida reported another 11k+ new cases on Friday even as the state's positivity rate sunk back to 12.4% (from upwards of 18% yesterday) as the number of tests shot higher.

The 11,433 new cases reported Friday (remember, all numbers are reported with a 24-hour delay) is the second highest single-day total reported during the coronavirus pandemic, coming after the previous 11k+ day, which was recorded on July 3.

The new numbers have brought the total to 244,151 cases in Florida. Officials also reported 93 new deaths from the coronavirus on Friday. The death toll now stands at 4,102.

The news follows reports that a second 11-year-old died form the virus in Florida. She reportedly died in Broward County yesterday.

Italy also reported its latest daily figures…

  • ITALY REPORTS 276 NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES, 12 DEATHS FRIDAY
  • ITALY REPORTS 242,639 TOTAL CORONAVIRUS CASES, 34,938 DEATHS

…all of which were in line with recent averages.

* * *

Update (1000ET): The UK just released its latest COVID-19 data.

UK public health officials reported 512 new deaths.

In other news, Larry Kudlow said during a cable news interview Friday morning that Trump would "never tolerate" a full economic shutdown.

He also insisted yet again that the US is in a recovery. But we suspect the strength of Kudlow's jawbone alone likely won't be enough to revive consumer confidence, or create tens of millions of jobs.

Before we go, we'd like to point out this latest factoid from Sweden (population 10.25 million): Sweden has been controversial for refusing to impose a lockdown. While schools and the economy remained open, the country has suffered the highest fatality rate per capita in the world – some 5,482 deaths (compared with roughly 75k cases, and 10.1 million people), which has led to Sweden's neighbors keeping travel restrictions in place.

Though the popularity of the approach remains popular, its favorability has sagged since the early days of the outbreak as deaths have climbed.

But one analyst pointed out that of all these fatalities, only 70 people under the age of 49 years old have died from the virus. That's only 1.3% of overall deaths. For context, average annual deaths in Sweden over the last 5 years for under-49-year-olds have been 3,417.  

Perhaps there might be a way to manage the outbreak in a more "sustainable" way that doesn't make the world so dependent on front line workers.

* * *

Update (0900ET): The latest Gilead press release touting a new drop in mortality tied to remdesivir, the drug it initially developed to treat ebola that is now being repurposed to fight COVID-19.

As one might expect, the news sent the market, and shares of Gilead, surging higher.

Time for a secondary offering?

* * *

The market's torrid recovery rally has encountered some more resistance this week as a massive retail-driven market bubble in China and a resurgence of US deaths linked to COVID-19 (most of which are occurring in the Sun Belt) has stoked fears that we might have finally arrived at the top of another down-slope as the reality of massively inflated valuations accompanied by the inevitable return to lockdown, as the deaths that former FDA head Scott Gottlieb has warned about during his morning appearances on CNBC finally begin to emerge.

Investors appeared to focus on the number of deaths reported on Thursday, which eclipsed 800 for the third day in a row, pushing the 7-day average to levels that we haven't seen since early June.

According to Reuters, the US reported 60,565 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a record-breaking tally for the second day in a row. There was, as usual, some disagreement on the numbers, as AFP tweeted that the record sum reported yesterday was higher than 65,000, citing Johns Hopkins data.

Globally, we saw 227,038 new cases yesterday, the third consecutive record.

Those numbers were mostly driven by the "Big 4" states – Texas, Florida, California, Arizona – as Florida reported a record 120 deaths, as we reported yesterday, and California had 136 new deaths, just below the record sum it reported the day before, according to the tally. Texas reported a record number of new cases north of 10k.

But almost equally as depressing are the multiplying signs that the outbreak is spreading to other states in the Midwest and South which haven't seen the level of spread as the most troubled Sun Belt states.

Even outside the nation’s three most populous states, cases are rising. Alabama, Montana and Wisconsin saw their biggest single-day increases yet on Thursday. Viral spread is climbing in 41 out of 50 states, according to a Reuters analysis of data collected over the past 2 weeks.

As Bloomberg reported, the Sun Belt states are seeing their highest levels of deaths yet (though most are nowhere near the mortality rates seen in New York earlier this year). Still, the virus is overrunning hospitals and exhausting supplies.

Yesterday, AZ Gov Doug Ducey announced measures including increasing testing capacity (testing across the country has continued to expand, though in many sun belt states, it hasn't been nearly fast enough to prevent hours-long lines) and limiting dine-in capacity to 50%.

In Mississippi, where many lawmakers are resisting wearing masks, 26 of them tested positive, including the leaders of both legislative chambers.

"We’re not in a good situation. That may be a little too gentle. Probably what I really think is not fit to print," said Jaline Gerardin, an expert in disease modeling and an assistant professor of preventive medicine in epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. "I’m very worried."

Ariz. has seen a 50% jump in the number of new cases reported daily over the last three weeks. Governor Ducey said Thursday: "We have had a brutal June."

Meanwhile, more Republican governors are pleading with the public to take steps like wearing masks when in public. In Kentucky, which is now reporting at least 200 or so new cases a day, Gov Andy Beshear said he would order mask-wearing statewide beginning 5pmET.

Of course, the US isn't the only country struggling with a disturbing resurgence. In Asia, Tokyo, Hong Kong, the Philippines (which reported another single day record of new cases earlier on Friday) and Indonesia are all struggling with new clusters (or outbreaks that never really went away).

Just look at those curves (source: BBG):

Meanwhile, as President Trump pushes the CDC to develop new guidelines that would support his hopes for reopening schools across the country in August, Hong Kong eported 42 new cases, 34 of them locally transmitted, and announced on Friday plans to close schools due to the recent outbreak, which has been traced back to an old folks home and restaurants.

Hong Kong has reported 1,365 cases with seven deaths since the pandemic began.

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