COVID + 12

One year in.  Who thought this would go on for so long?  But having had the vaccines we are resuming some of the old life.  Attended a spring training game!  Attendance was limited to about 15% of capacity and we had to wear masks but it was wonderful to see baseball in person again.

Case and mortality trends continue in a favorable direction in the United States.  May it continue.  When I look at the mortality chart for the U.S. as a whole it reminds me of the curves I've seen regarding the Spanish Flu of 1918-9; an initial large surge, followed by a decline, and then a massive longer lasting second wave.  

The UK and Israel, which lead the world in administering vaccines, have seen a dramatic drop in deaths.

Other parts of the world are not so fortunate yet.  Most of the rest of Europe is still troubled.  In the West, France and Italy have seen major upsurges and reinstituted lockdowns while the East, from Poland in the north to Greece in the south, is experiencing another wave.

South America is going through another wave with Brazil seeing the worst of it.

I've increased the benchmark for reporting from 800 deaths per million to 1,000 deaths per million as the death toll is increasing.  When I began this monthly report in October only one country (Peru) had exceeded 1,000; five months later 31 countries have exceeded that dubious milestone.  As always, countries with populations of less than one million are not included.

Europe

Czech Republic (2314), Belgium (1953), Hungary (1913), Slovenia (1912), UK (1852), Bosnia & Herzogovinia (1818), Bulgaria (1764), Italy (1744), North Macedonia (1681), Slovakia (1667), Portugal (1649), Spain (1573), France (1417), Croatia (1416), Sweden (1307), Poland (1305), Lithuania (1294), Switzerland (1177), Romania (1163), Moldova (1140), Austria (1005)

Unofficially, Russia has exceeded 1,000 and probably 1,500.

North America 

USA (1672), Mexico (1524), Panama (1385)

South America

Peru (1512), Brazil (1384), Colombia (1212), Argentina (1202), Chile (1162), Bolivia (1023)

Africa

None

Unofficially, South Africa has exceeded 1,000 and possibly 1,500.

Asia

Armenia (1132)

Eight countries are between 1,000 and 850, before a drop off to the next at 746; Latvia (977), Netherlands (949), Georgia (931), Ecuador (924), Ireland (922), Germany (898), South Africa (872), Lebanon (854)