[AnotherUnixGeek]

I notice the COVID-19 death rate does not seem to be rising even as the infection rate rises. Is this due to better treatment, or is the virus weakening?

[LouieFisk]

“Is this due to better treatment, or is the virus weakening?”
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Could be, but also it’s hitting the younger crowd now more than the grannies. Will probably circle back to older people via the younger ones - and back on the merry-go-round we go again & again.

[familyop]

"I notice the COVID-19 death rate does not seem to be rising even as the infection rate rises. Is this due to better treatment, or is the virus weakening?"

More of those getting sick now are young, and fewer young people get as sick.

[Zhang Fei]

[I notice the COVID-19 death rate does not seem to be rising even as the infection rate rises. Is this due to better treatment, or is the virus weakening?]

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I used to think there was a lag between jumps in detection and deaths. In looking at the charts, I don’t see such a lag. I think it’s a matter of people coming back to work getting tested at the insistence of their employers. Note that 80% have the normal cold/flu symptoms. 20% have serious enough symptoms to end up in the hospital. While 1/3 of that 20% end up dying, the fact is 80% don’t require serious medical intervention. That’s probably where that jump is coming from - that 80% who get what seem to be pretty run-of-the-mill cold/flu symptoms.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us

For 20%, it’s far worse, to the nth degree, than the typical cold/flu. But for the 80%, it isn’t. My fear of ending up in the 20% is why I wear a mask anytime I’m in close proximity to someone not part of my household. Family members are taking the same precautions.

[buwaya]

The death count is very slightly up this last week over the week before, or at least the decline in deaths has leveled off.

Of course this stuff is very vulnerable to changes in criteria or even shifts in predominance from one state to another, etc. The US, vs European countries, is very large and has many population clusters and unique environments so its not unlikely that Covid will “find” new clusters for a long time. Indeed, it is already doing that in Europe, with the relaxation of the lockdowns there.

I expect that Covid, globally, will become more of a chronic problem at a rather low level, that will persist for a long time. The low mortality rate will absolutely not justify extreme social measures.