Coronavirus daily update: Thursday, March 26

Locals only

Talk about hyperlocal!

We’re all more or less housebound, starting at 5 p.m. tomorrow after orders from our mayors, county commissioners and governor (see last night’s update for details and links). So, like it or not, we’re all gonna hang around the house for the next few days, the next few weeks, whatever it takes.

Hopefully we’ve all gotten better at home-schooling, videoconferencing, washing our hands and filling the long hours we used to spend working. A lot of businesses will be shutting down on Friday, which means a lot more of our friends will be out of work. And more people are getting sick each day.

Today’s developments were more or less predictable, with a couple big headlines that jump out, most of which has to do with math, so let’s start with the numbers.

The numbers

• We’re No. 1 — in COVID-19, that is. The United States today became the nation with the most confirmed cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus, with a jump of more than 15,000 confirmed cases, putting us ahead of China. But…
  • China’s is 60 days in, and started aggressively flattening the curve 40 days ago, according to this nifty NY Times chart, around the 20-day mark. They have had a few days lately without any new cases.
  • We’re on a steeper incline than China was as we approach the 20-day mark, but we have fewer cases than they did. FWIW.
  • China accomplished this by locking shit down. Can we accomplish the same thing in the US?
• The US also surpassed 1,000 deaths today — we’re at 1,217 as of 7:52 p.m. — yet we haven’t lost nearly as many as Italy (8,215), Spain (4,365) and China (3,287).
• One of them was a North Carolinian. The DHHS reported a second death today, a patient in their late 30s, with an unnamed underlying condition from Harnett County.
• We have 728 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina, according to the N&O. We’ve been getting about 100 a day since Sunday. DHHS says we’ve performed 12,910 tests.
• In the Triad, Forsyth County remained at 17 diagnosed cases. Guilford picked up four more for a total of 26. We’ve got 45 of 728 cases — just 6.1 percent of the state’s burden. And with just two deaths, our death rate is clocking at 0.2 percent, which compared to New York’s 1.0 percent and California’s 2.0 percent is pretty good — except for all the dead people and those they leave behind.

National news

• President Trump approved North Carolina’s status as a federal disaster area, within 24 hours of Gov. Cooper’s request. It’s a money thing.
• We’re getting $2 trillion — that’s what the Senate and the NY Times tell us, anyway. We’ll be keeping an eye on this process.

Local news

• Honda Aircraft suspended production today at its Greensboro plant. “This is due to anticipated decline in market demand related to the economic impact of COVID-19,” the spokesperson told Triad City Beat. They plan to resume in April.
• The Wherehouse Art Hotel — a true gem of the Camel City — needs some cash. Hit up their GoFundMe if you can. There’s nothing else like it.
• The State Archives is looking for volunteers to transcribe old documents, diaries, letters and other materials — from home, of course. If I wasn’t otherwise occupied, I would totally do this.
• Gears and Guitars Fest has been moved from May 22-24 to Oct. 2-4. It’s still in Bailey Park (no link because site is not updated).

A diversion

Dig the trailer for My Comic Shop Country, a feature-length doc about the comic-shop biz featuring local legend Jermaine Exum, of Acme Comic Shop. I’d embed it, but it’s a Facebook video and I don’t feel like messing with it.

Program notes

• Tonight’s public-domain artwork is “Hobby Horse,” by Robert Peckham, 1840. From the National Gallery of Art‘s America collection.
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