An Update on Coronavirus as of April 30th

An+Update+on+Coronavirus+as+of+April+30th

Polina Barilo, Journalist

As of April 30th 2020, the global coronavirus case count has reached almost 3.5 million, the death count has reached almost 240,000, and over a million people have recovered. Based on current global statistics, 7 percent of people infected with the virus have died. Since the first Covid-19 case was reported in the United States in late January, the total confirmed case count in the United States has reached a million and the deaths have reached almost 64,000.  Here are the current statistics of the top five states infected as of the end of April. The state with the most coronavirus cases is New York with a little over 300,000. The deaths have reached almost 24,000. New Jersey has around 120,000 confirmed cases, with a death count of almost 8,000. Massachusetts has almost 63,000 cases and 4,000 deaths. Illinois has a case count of almost 53,000 and a death count of almost 2,400. Lastly, there are about 50,000 confirmed cases in California, following a death count of slightly over 2,000 people.

Compared to other countries around the world, who started coronavirus regulations early, the United States has implemented strict policies only by the end of March. Only a few days ago the Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti finally announced that the city will offer all residents free testing for the coronavirus. Furthermore, starting May 4th, Costco will require all customers and employees to wear face masks. Sophomore Peter Barilo shares his thoughts on this situation, saying “I think that if these regulations were implemented earlier in the pandemic cycle, they would have prevented many cases”. Nevertheless, the cases are now slowly and steadily increasing and officials speculate that the peak of the outbreak in California will occur in mid to late May. However, a decline in case numbers does not guarantee the end of the lock-down. The first full month of quarantine in California has now passed and if social distancing guidelines and face mask regulations are taken seriously, there is hope in achieving a decline in new cases by the start of summer.