How are we doing, relative to the rest of the world, that is?

TO be frank, for a second or so, the news reported yesterday afternoon that we had 343 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 1,418, sent a shiver down my spine.

That’s the highest increase in a day so far, although, as a health department official explained, the rise in the past several days may have been due to the increase in tests being undertaken and results coming in only recently. But no epidemiologist can really be certain whether we’ve reached the peak or are just starting on the curve. The statement of a United States health official has become classic: “It is the virus that makes the timeline.”