Weekly Indicators for March 15 - 19 at Seeking Alpha

 

 - by New Deal democrat

My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha.

Both the nowcast and the short term forecast continue to be red hot. But interest rates continue to batter the long term forecast.

As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment, and reward me a tiny bit for the efforts I put in.

Coronavirus dashboard for March 19: yes, vaccinations are working

 

 - by New Deal democrat

The three big Western standouts for vaccination progress have been Israel, the UK, and the US, respectively. And in all three, there have been dramatic declines in both cases and deaths.

Let’s look at them in order. First, Israel:

56% of all Israelis have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. 50% have been fully vaccinated.

Cases have declined 81%. Deaths have declined 77%.

The UK’s vaccination program has coincided with a partial lockdown that began on January 4:

40% of the population has had at least one dose. 30% is fully vaccinated.

Both cases and deaths have declined by 91%.

The US is in 3rd place:

23% of the US population has received at least one dose. 12.5% has been fully vaccinated.

Cases have declined by 78%. Deaths have declined by 65%.

Vaccinations are working. Hopefully as those opposed to taking the vaccine see their family, friends, and neighbors returning to close to normal lives without contracting the virus, they will lose their hesitancy and do the obvious, rational, and easy thing.

P.S.: Here is an updated graph on hospitalizations in the US:

This is more evidence that serious illness and death among the institutionalized elderly from COVID has all but disappeared.