Coronavirus daily update: Wednesday, May 27

Into the numbers

I post a lot of numbers on here, sometimes without delving into the meaning behind them. There are trends, metrics and predictions embedded in the data, if we know how to look — and I took statistics in college! Twice! So I’m pretty much up to speed. Also, remember that each statistic is an actual person, with plans and obligations and goals and loved ones that are all affected by a COVID-19 diagnosis.

We’ll dive in later, including a look at some new charts. But first, we should acknowledge the day’s news.

Some news

• I got a late start because I wanted to watch the spacemen. But Elon Musk’s SpaceX maiden voyage was scrapped due to weather today, and rescheduled for Saturday, which is way better for me anyway.
• Closer to home, a coalition of North Carolina gym owners are flouting restrictions set forth by the state by opening up, and some are putting together a lawsuit against Gov. Roy Cooper for infringing upon their constitutional rights.
• Following the path laid by Ace Speedway last week, Carteret County Speedway will hold its season opener on Saturday, with fans.
• Greensboro’s Fun Fourth fireworks show is canceled.
• The Greensboro Library system will reopen June 1 with curbside returns from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Curbside pickup resumes June 10. A “grab and go” phase is set to begin June 29.
• Gov. Cooper quickly and quietly replaced the head of state unemployment. Lockhart Taylor is out, and Pryor Gibson is in. Nothing to add just yet, except that those names sound made up.

The numbers

• NC has ramped up testing — 11,825 reported today. Of course, with increased testing comes increased diagnoses: 488 today, 4.12 percent positive. Not bad!
  • But we’ve hit a new high in hospitalizations — 702 currently hospitalized. We’ve got 14,954 recoveries on the books out of 24,628 diagnoses and 838 dead (seven new today). That leaves us perhaps just a hair over 8,000 active cases.
• Let’s veer back to Healthdata.org for a moment and note that, though we trend upwards in diagnosed cases, we’re well within the boundaries of our healthcare system’s resources.
  • The data anticipates a reduction in the death rate for North Carolina, as well, which could start dropping June 4.
  • On the negative side, they estimate that we have exponentially more estimated infections than confirmed infections. But that could mean a lot of different things.
• Forsyth County‘s share of the new diagnoses is 51 — 1,063 total. Forsyth now has 27 cases per 10,000 residents, one of the highest in the state.
• Guilford also adds 51, making 1,043 total, with 566 recoveries compared to Forsyth’s 95, and 21 cases per 10,000, also on the high end in the state. Mecklenberg has 32, Durham has 43, Wake has 14 and Wayne County has 85.

A diversion

When I was a kid, as far as I was concerned, Sid and Mart Krofft owned Saturday morning. “Sigmund the Sea Monster,” “HR Puff N Stuff” and other shows of psychedelic puppetry and thinly-veiled drug references were a huge deal in the 1970s. After those hits came “The World of Sid & Marty Krofft,” a sort of catchall for one-off episodes form their extensive cast of characters. Here’s a weird one: “Lidsville,” about a kid who falls into a magic hat. The intro song is like two minutes long, otherwise it’s aggressively trippy.

Program notes

• I’m getting my public-domain images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City these days. We just call it “the Met.” Tonight we’ve got “The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet,” by Claude Lorrain, ca 1643.
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