Currently, the United States is seeing about 40,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. Today, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he "would not be surprised" if the US started getting 100,000 new cases a day. But what's curious is that even though more people are becoming infected with the Coronavirus, a lower percentage of them are requiring ventilators.
A Medium article by Elad Simchayoff explores five possible reasons why this could be happening.
- The least likely explanation is that the virus is becoming less lethal. A minority of experts think that Covid-19 is becoming weaker over time.
- It's also unlikely that hot weather and sunshine is causing the virus to decay. though some experts believe this is a reason.
- Testing has increased in recent weeks, which likely accounts for part of the reason why fewer people are requiring ventilators. "More people are reported sick, many of them in a very mild state, which makes the percentage of those in critical condition drop."
- Hospitals are starting to use treatments other than ventilators. "In some countries, the practice has now shifted considerably to no more early ventilating and efforts being made to avoid ventilators at almost any cost."
- Younger people are getting sick. For example, in Florida, the median age for infected people is 37, but in March it was 65. Younger people are less likely to become seriously ill from coronavirus, and as a result, do not require ventilators.
Photo by Javier Matheu on Unsplash
