The number of cases of Covid-19 shot up rapidly and is now decreasing fast. Among my friends and acquaintances, many got the virus. Fortunately no one got seriously sick.
With a bit of luck, perhaps this will be the end of the pandemic. Here are three charts showing number of confirmed cases per million from Our World in Data. Note that confirmed cases are lower than the true number of infections due to limited testing.
Here’s the chart for the US. Two days ago, on Sunday 23rd January, the number of confirmed cases per million population had dropped to 615 — from a peak of peak of 4,110 on Jan 10th. Click on the image below to go to the source at Our World in Data.
The next chart is for India. The peak was 383 confirmed cases per million on Jan 14th. Cases had dropped to 220 on Jan 23rd. Click on chart to see the source.
The next chart is simply overlaying India and US data to compare the two sets.
BTW, I think Our World in Data is a treasure. Here’s a bit from Max Roser, the founder and director:
It is possible to change the world
To work towards a better future, we also need to understand how and why the world is changing.
The historical data and research shows that it is possible to change the world. Historical research shows that until a few generations ago around half of all newborns died as children. Since then the health of children has rapidly improved around the world and life expectancy has doubled in all regions. Progress is possible.
In other important ways global living conditions have improved as well. While we believe this is one of the most important facts to know about the world we live in, it is known by surprisingly few.
Instead, many believe that global living conditions are stagnating or getting worse and much of the news media’s reporting is doing little to challenge this perception. It is wrong to believe that one can understand the world by following the news alone and the media’s focus on single events and things that go wrong can mean that well-intentioned people who want to contribute to positive change become overwhelmed, hopeless, cynical and in the worst cases give up on their ideals. Much of our effort throughout these years has been dedicated to countering this threat.
Researching how it was possible to make progress against large problems in the past allows us to learn. Progress is possible, but it is not a given. If we want to know how to reduce suffering and tackle the world’s problems we should learn from what was successful in the past.
Be well, do good work and keep in touch.
Life is a Random Draw 