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Media: It’s Not That Hard. Do the Numbers!

By Shlomo Maital

The print and TV media are letting us down. CNN publishes daily counts of COVID-19 cases, worldwide and in New York and other states.

   So?

   What do the numbers mean?

OK – here are the numbers for Israel, total cases, every two days…and the daily rate of change. The start date is March 24, the final date is April 9. Today.

2690 19.7 %
3619 17.3
4695 14.9
6092 14.9
7428 11.0
8430 6.7
9248 4.9
9755 2.7

Remember my blog, Rule of 72? Divide 72 by the daily % change, you get the number of days it takes for COVID-19 cases to double.    On March 24, doubling every 3.5 days. Ouch. By April 9, doubling every 24 days, roughly.

Why? Pretty severe police-enforced lockdown, including the night of Passover.   It works.

     CNN, media: Show us the % change, daily. Show us the rule of 72 – days to double. And show us the trend.

It’s not rocket science! It’s just percentages and compound interest.

 

Blog entries written by Prof. Shlomo Maital

Shlomo Maital

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