Good evening,

June 24, 2020 -- The United States COVID-19 cases report topped yesterday's national record and confirmed it is still very much the most infectious country on earth. As other geographies either also broke their own records or reported continuing large infections trends, the global filings added up to the third worst day of the pandemic. It is worth mentioning that the top three single day cases records have all been established in the last week, foreboding hard coming days. Today, with graphs and supporting fresh data, we highlight India, South Africa, Iraq, and Colombia's peak records, all established today, to underscore the global dimension of the crisis. As you review the numbers, in these daily reports, I invite you to pay attention to the testing information; particularly the positivity rates that clearly indicate the adequate or insufficient testing levels required to get a reliable grasp of the levels of infections in any monitored area. For example, Mexico has a positivity rate of 38.17%, Brazil's is 44.52%, Chile's is 25.25%, and the US rate is 8.20%, while countries on the other side of their own pandemic curve have much lower rates, 5% or less and descending. Also consider the daily positivity rates, extracted from one-day testing data, which confirm or deny control of the spread: for example Switzerland has a 5.99% positivity rate over its entire pandemic data set, but its current daily positivity rate is only 0.50%. The larger numbers above, from Central and South America indicate egregious under-testing, meaning that the reported infections data are insufficiently complete to properly evaluate the extend of the damage. Only aggressive testing can reveal the actual size of the problem.

Tip: click on any of the graphs for larger and clearer images and click on READ MORE to view the complete articles.

*:incomplete data set

The United States breaks its COVID-19 pandemic single-day cases record again today

Florida, Texas, both Carolinas, and Oklahoma broke their own records as other states also reported high case counts, together adding over 3,000 more cases to yesterday's devastating record. This means the US is in a much worst position than it was when most the country was sheltering in place. Texas and Florida are about to run out of ICU beds. This morning, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced a joint decision to require two-week self-quarantining from out-of-state visitors coming in from the hardest hit states (AZ, CA, FL, etc.), a day after a similar order was issued from the office of the Governor of Kansas. Other states had near peak records today, including Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, and even the State of Washington's Governor has now issued mandatory face mask rules as his state has been reporting worrisome flares and upward trends.

Click on the image to view the tabled data.

The Madera County Department of Public Health announced this evening that 11 more of our county's residents were confirmed infected with COVID-19 since yesterday, bringing our cumulative cases to 370 in Madera. COVID-19 has killed 288 residents (+8) from our area of the central valley, of which the cumulative documented infections now total 14,851.

Note: The tests information was estimated because Tulare and Merced counties do not explicitly share the data (only occasionally in Merced press releases), however, the positivity rate is available in the Merced County dashboard and the state of California also publishes the Tulare positivity rate, which enabled me to estimate the tests quantities.

Madera + 6 local counties

7 counties together