Day 67: 5G

Today the world hit 1,430,000 cases with 82,000 deaths and 301,000 recovered. The US hit 400,000 cases and is quickly approaching 13,000 deaths. Spain, nominally #2 at 141,000 cases, is now actually behind New York State (142,000 cases), though Spain continues to exceed in deaths. France has not only passed the 100,000 mark but has leapfrogged over Germany to fourth place. Iran is sixth and the UK seventh with 55,000 cases, among them Boris Johnson, spending his second night in the ICU.

Massachusetts' numbers were a bit late today (though not as late as this post): 1365 new cases (up 10%) for a total of 15202, with 96 new deaths. The excess deaths have something to do with reports over the weekend not being correlated with cases until now. Suffolk has leapt ahead of Middlesex County again. There are now 958 positives at long-term facilities, and 129 facilities reporting COVID-19 cases. We almost hit 5,000 tests today. The governor talked about his testing goals at his presser today, but didn't explain the cause of the fluctuations.

PlagueBlog has heard some third-hand rumors that 5G causes coronavirus. They somehow predate Representative Mark Green's allegations yesterday that China was making the delivery of medical supplies to France contingent upon their using Huawei to implement 5G.

P.S. Gothamist reports an unusual number of deaths at home in New York City, which are not being reported in the official counts when they are untested, presumptive cases:

The FDNY says it responded to 2,192 cases of deaths at home between March 20th and April 5th, or about 130 a day, an almost 400 percent increase from the same time period last year. (In 2019, there were just 453 cardiac arrest calls where a patient died, according to the FDNY.)

That number has been steadily increasing since March 30th, with 241 New Yorkers dying at home Sunday — more than the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths that occurred citywide that day. On Monday night, the city reported 266 new deaths, suggesting the possibility of a 40% undercount of coronavirus-related deaths.

P.P.S. On the bright side, Hong Kong pandas Ying Ying and Le Le used their newfound privacy to make more pandas.