Good evening,

October 20, 2020 -- Today’s tally is the third highest global report of new cases, with the larger two announced in the last six days. As India’s daily counts have slowly decreased below US numbers, there is a chance India may not overtake the US as the most infected country after all. In the last week, India has confirmed 412,076 new cases while the US has counted 429,149 new COVID-19 infections. There is mention of a third wave in the US, although it could be argued we never completed the first or second, as our nation’s numbers never came down to the target baseline established by the coronavirus task force last spring. As both India and Brazil are showing a gradual slow down in their spread, the US and Russia’s contagions are steadily growing and, today, peaked in Russia. Great Britain, Iran and Czechia also peaked, Argentina passed the symbolic 1 million mark, while a large number of other countries released near peak or stubbornly high reports: Spain, France, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Nepal, Morocco, Switzerland, Austria, Georgia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Jordan. The following middle eastern countries appear to be oblivious to the accelerating global spread: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, and Egypt have been releasing encouragingly low numbers for over two months, down to three digit daily counts, with national curves aiming to resemble South Korea’s or New Zealand’s.

COVID-19 in the world today:

Tip: click on any of the graphs for larger and clearer images and click on READ MORE to view the complete articles. Also, please forgive the occasional typos.

An international group of scientists has written a response to a push for a "herd immunity" approach to managing the pandemic, which would involve letting the virus spread.

The WHO last week denounced the herd approach—a term used for vaccines—as "scientifically and ethically problematic," because it could greatly boost deaths and expose more people to a virus that may have long-term health consequences. However, a document, known as the Great Barrington declaration, with a list of supporters of the approach was reportedly embraced by the White House.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has denounced the document, and pushback gained more steam today with the publication in The Lancet of the John Snow Memorandum, which includes scientific references and has now been signed by more than 2,000 scientists, researchers, and health professionals.

10/20/2020 COVID-19 UPDATE: Reporting 34 cases from the public bringing the total number of reported cases to 4,920. 

Of the 4,920:

Today, the seven local counties together confirmed 324 new infections and 8 new coronavirus deaths. In the combined 7 counties, COVID-19 has infected 103,599 and has killed 1,433 residents of our region since it claimed its first central valley victim, in Madera, on March 26, 2020. Our friends and neighbors are needlessly dying, many families are suffering. Science and the courage to follow its logic will solve this pandemic, any other discourse is inadequate.

COVID-19 in Madera + 6 local counties (+% is the positivity rate)

COVID-19 in the 7 counties together