At this point, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s COVID-19 cases in the United State website, which the FEHBlog tracks, the number of confirmed cases topped one million on Wednesday and the number of confirmed deaths topped 60,000 on Thursday. Interestingly, the case fatality rate (deaths over cases) has remained between 5 and 6% for the last fourteen days after jumping from 2% on April 1 to 5% on April 17. The case fatality rate (“CFR”) should drop as the number of confirmed cases increases due to antibiotic testing. The American Spectator observes

To put this in perspective: Last winter 250,000 people tested positive for the flu. 25,000 died. If these numbers are right, the CFR for the flu is 10 percent … but that can’t be right.

And, in fact, it isn’t. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that, although only 250,000 people tested positive for the flu last year, 39 million people actually got it. Generally only those who are older or otherwise unhealthy, or those who have a severe case, go to the doctor and get tested for the flu; everyone else just takes Motrin and Tylenol and stays home. This drives up the CFR dramatically.

Also check out the CDC’s weekly COVIDView.

The Boston Globe’s STAT offers a pessimistic view of the COVID-19 emergency over time. If the STAT’s view is correct, then we have experienced no progress in medical care since 1918-1919 when the flu decimated the world. The FEHBlog has confidence in our healthcare system to pull us through this crisis.

America’s Health Insurance Plans discusses the steps that health insurers take to expand coverage in the face of the COVID-19 emergency. Health benefits did not exist in 1918-19.

For those interested, the American Medical Association reviews advocacy efforts for its membership during the crisis.

The Harvard Business Review called the FEHBlog’s attention to

Kanter’s Law: that everything can look like a failure in the middle. Unexpected obstacles and difficult predicaments can arise in the middle of any human and organizational endeavor. Give up, and by definition it’s a failure. Persist, pivot, and persevere, and there’s hope for finding another successful path.

In closing Happy Law Day. ” Law Day is held on May 1st every year to celebrate the role of law in our society and to cultivate a deeper understanding of the legal profession.”

The Law Day 2020 theme is “Your Vote, Your Voice, Our Democracy: The 19th Amendment at 100.” In 2019-2020, the United States is commemorating the centennial of the transformative constitutional amendment that guaranteed the right of citizens to vote would not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. American women fought for, and won, the vote through their voice and action.