Yesterday Governor Tim Walz announced Minnesota's plan to begin testing people for COVID-19 at a level of intensity that we have not seen anywhere else in the United States (and in many countries, for that matter). Operating from the position that we'll be more successful in addressing the effects of COVID-19 if we actually know how many people have the virus, we are likely to see huge increases in reported cases in Minnesota over the next few weeks. Compare the 23 confirmed cases in the circle above to the likely 28,000 actual infections in major US cities as of March 1, in today's New York Times. We know that hidden cases of this virus spread just like confirmed cases do. This will be hard to watch.
However, think about how much harder it would be to live somewhere that isn't taking this position right now. Governors of several states, including Texas, Florida and Georgia are lifting some restrictions on businesses and even Donald Trump appears now to be nervous about this. As usual, you can imagine that I will strongly suggest that you maintain your balanced media diet. Start by seeing for yourselves what the numbers are all over the world using this great tracker from Microsoft (in the interest of full disclosure, yes, this came from my brother who works there). It uses AI to predict 7 days out and it will be interesting to see how it accounts for Minnesota's aggressive testing. Compare it to the resources I shared earlier. The trick to keeping up with the news now (and anytime, really) is to look for facts that are verified in several different sources by different journalists. For example, are you seeing exciting stories about a medication that hasn't been tested much yet, but commentators say is likely to be a "game-changer"? A great exercise is to see which, if any, other news sources are independently investigating the claims while the claims are being made. In the case of hydroxycholorquine, commentators' excitement led to hoarding of the drug (actually useful for people with Lupus) and people buying all the tonic water in the country. Now, the story is different. Put yourself in a position where you can see that coming next time by making sure you have a balanced media diet.
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