Here’s the coronavirus growth rate through Thursday. Spain continues to be a disaster area, but the big news for us Americans is that the US growth rate took a big jump and is now precisely on track with Spain’s. We are finally starting to do more widespread testing, and with more accurate numbers it looks as if our true growth rate is about the worst in the Western world.
And a note about Sweden. On Wednesday I said that Sweden’s flattening growth curve meant it was doing something right. I got a bunch of emails about this, so on Thursday I said that maybe it was really just because they weren’t testing very many people. Then I got a bunch of emails about that. Apparently I can say anything I want about any other country, but if I mention Sweden I’d better be prepared for an onslaught of responses. Bottom line: I don’t know why Sweden’s growth rate has flattened out at such a low level, but I’m sure somebody will eventually write a doctoral dissertation about it. In the meantime, I’m going to stay agnostic about the whole thing.
The raw data from Johns Hopkins is here.
