Day 145 Of Coronavirus Shutdown

 Hello everyone. Today marks day 145 of my Coronavirus shutdown. 

Today also marks the day that The U.S. hit 5 million confirmed Coronavirus cases. This is just 17 days after crossing the 4 million mark. Still climbing unfortunately. The last time we surpassed a million new cases many states were seeing record high numbers of new infections. I'm speaking about states in particular like California, Florida and Texas. However there was an NPR analysis that showed that cases in at least 33 states were on the decline last week.

I wanted to point out much like NPR has that those figures don't show the whole picture of the pandemic. And here's why. Take a look at this from NPR below.

"Two hard-hit states that reported declines saw recent interruptions to testing efforts. In California, where COVID-19-related deaths stand at more than 10,000, state health authorities say a technical glitch caused under-reporting of test results. In Florida, state officials closed down testing sites in multiple counties in preparation for Hurricane Isaias.

In Texas, officials this weekend reported a positive seven-day average testing rate of nearly 19.5% — the state's highest since the pandemic started."

Basically my point is, if you see on the news that cases in 33 states were on the decline last week, understand why and what actually caused the decline. It's not because we're beating the virus. Look under the rug and follow facts.

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I would like to leave you all today with something positive to look forward too. So what better than a really cool meteor shower? The Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak next week.

It's the most active meteor shower of the year, and it’s expected to peak the nights of Aug 11th and Aug 12th in 2020.

The National Weather Service says - "The moon will make it hard to see some of the meteors but the best viewing will be in a dark sky away from the radiant, or where the meteors appear to be coming from. For this shower, the radiant is in the constellation of Perseus, which is also where the annual event gets its name."

You could also try to look for the meteors before the moon rises or after it sets in your location. Which is probably what I'll do. They also say that if you miss the peak, don’t worry too much. The Perseids are visible until Aug 26th so you still have time to catch a peek of the show.

So get out and give the sky a gaze. Enjoy the summer nights while you can because Autumn is just around the corner.

Stay well everyone and thank you all for taking the time to read this blog.

WEAR. A. MASK!

PRACTICE. SOCIAL. DISTANCING!