beginning to look a lot like autumn

I now know three people who have caught SARS-CoV-2, developed COVID-19, and survived after a month of recovery.
The first was my dear friend Danny Torres, who is about half my age and a police officer; his case is the most amazing to me, as he had brain tumors and was in surgery much of last year.
The second was my brother Smitty, who is two years younger than me.
The third was my cousin Bobby, up in South Carolina, who mentioned it on fb during his travel by air to Florida to visit his mom.
Bobby is in his late 50's; Aunt Linda is in her early 80's.
As I had no idea that Bobby had been ill, I have to wonder: who else do I know that has tested positive for that infectious respiratory disease?

I know that my blood test for the presence of COVID antibodies came back negative.
The test was a service from the American Red Cross during my donation on August 4th.
I had hoped it would show that the respiratory illness I had in November was related to the pandemic, as I had managed to struggle through that that.
No, that was 'just' influenza b,
no relation to this coronavirus.
I had thought the nonstop bouts of coughing would kill me.
Damn.
That means this bug-a-boo is still a threat to my pneumonia-damaged lungs.
Anything that threatens my lungs is a threat to my life.
Forewarned is forearmed, so what does the data show at this last day of August?
Well, it shows what we would expect now that summer vacations are over and people are no longer traveling willy-nilly all over the country to theme parks.
I have a new ditty, naturally, to commemorate the occasion.
This one is set to the music for "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas".
Feel free to hum along!

"It's beginning to look a lot like autumn,
leaves are everywhere,
baseball is nearly done,
the kids are all back in school,
and Labor Day is just a week away!

It's beginning to look a lot like autumn,
summer has come and gone.
COVID cases are on the wane
and masks are to thank for that,
yes, now we seem to have a small reprieve!"

I think I have the melody pretty smooth, but suggestions are welcome, as always.
So, what's that data showing?
There's a decrease???
What information do I have to back up that claim?
Let me tell where that dip is showing up: in the 7-day totals of new COVID cases, that's where.
And the states with the largest decreases?
Those would be Florida, California, and Texas, home for multiple theme parks and big destination draws for those wanting a vacation from life.

See what I mean?
Those reaching up, up, up, would be Florida (orange), California (yellow), and Texas (purple), with Florida surpassing California at one point with more than seventy-thousand new cases for two weeks running.
Florida is now leading that trio in amount of decrease, having successfully navigated its way down to a mere twenty thousand new cases per week.
Good for that state!
I'm sure its citizens are overjoyed that folks from other states are no longer traipsing over its borders to cavort and make merry.
That's certainly a benefit from school having resumed that second week in August.
Even if the kids aren't physically leaving home, they're still having to 'show up' online for classes at appointed times.
Georgia (dark blue) had been boasting more than twenty-five thousand new case per week, but that sweet peach has seen those numbers steadily decline the past two weeks.
Let's hope changing fall foliage in north Georgia's mountains don't cause those numbers to climb back up.
Remember folks: no new cases is the goal.
Alabama (light green), Louisiana (black), and Tennessee (dark purple circles) have also been on the mend, showing steady declines in their weekly sums of newly infected people.
Pennsylvania (pale blue), Michigan (dark green), and Oklahoma (yellow-orange) have a slight increase going on, so slight, but steady.
I hope they can get that under control before ski season comes around.

By the way, the data for that previous graph, as well as that shown in this one, was collected from May 20th through this evening.
That pretty well covers all of what we regard as "summer", regardless of when the calendar or custom proclaims the first day of that season to be.
So, what data is displayed for the ten states this time?
Well, remember where the rate, or number of COVID-infected people per 100,000 in population, was in early June?
That's down at the lowest point of these curves now.
Michigan and Pennsylvania have the most moderate rate of increase, as noted last month.
Here's the bad thing about that: their rate has doubled over the last three months - and, yet, that is the most moderate rate of the ten states.
As shown here, Louisiana was the only state that started the summer at a higher rate of infection per population than the other nine states I track.
The majority went into the summer with a rate of 500 cases per 100,000 people, or less.
By the time that first post-school, summer vacation time, month of June had ended, a bit of separation was afoot.
By the start of school this month, the other eight states, including poor Oklahoma, had forsaken linear growth and opted for exponential, boasting massive rises in their per capita rate of infection.

Okay, since I opened that can of worms, just how many people have fallen prey to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus thus far?
Okay, here goes: be sure to sit down to read this.
California has had more than seven hundred thousand and will likely have a cool million for Christmas.
Florida and Texas each have more than six hundred thousand that have had COVID or that currently have it.
Georgia is working on getting three hundred thousand, and should reach that with the help of the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
The other six are lagging far behind, thankfully, and I hope they will continue to lag.
The United States of America will pass the six million mark tomorrow.
The total number of newly-infected people, nationwide, for a 7-day span was almost three hundred thousand.
Let me say that again.
The total number of newly-infected people, nationwide, for a 7-day span was almost three hundred thousand.
That's the total number of cases that Georgia alone has had for a five-month span that started at the beginning of April.
It's a truly horrifying thought that the number of new infections per week for the entire country is the equivalent of five-months of infection in a single state.
Horrifying.

Definitely time for me to shake this out of my head so I can sleep tonight.
I'm going to choose to believe that life will be well on its way to a new normal for Christmas.
As Jim Croce would say, "tomorrow's gonna be a brighter day".
I truly have to believe that.