Yesterday was a SEVEN Green Arrow Day.

Weekly Summary for Week Ended August 2, 2020
Tests and Fatalities

Good Morning,

Yesterday was a SEVEN Green Arrow Day. Below are the particulars for the day.

In the past several weeks, we have focused our weekly summary on the number of tests performed and fatalities. It looks like the number of tests has leveled off to approximately six million per week compared to 1.7 million for the week ending May 3, 2020, about a 250% increase.

Last week we reached a milestone in the accumulated number of tests, just a few short of 60 million or 18% of the USA’s population. Yes, almost one person in 5 has had a COVID 19 test. For many, there are repeat tests, such as professional sports athletes being routinely tested.

Increasing the number of tests has several ramifications, such as the rates of new cases, fatalities, and other statistics because there is a much larger denominator. Also, an important factor that goes unpublished is that in the early days’ tests were rationed because the US did not have the capacity nor capability to perform as many tests as we do today. Many would-be COVID patients were told to stay home, self-quarantine, and let their doctor know if symptoms become more severe.

What we can count are fatalities, albeit there may be bias because the virus gets the blame for any death in which the patient died and tested positive, even if the likelihood of a longer life would be remote. The chart below shows that fatalities have dropped both in a relative and absolute sense. We believe that the lower numbers reflect our country’s ability to protect better those with multiple underlying conditions and to our healthcare professionals who have been able to improve patient outcomes.

Test Rates

Tests performed have increased to about 6 million/week level. The increase capacity and capability is helping drive this statistic.