Good evening,

As the COVID-19 Pandemic rages through our planet, ranking countries helps understand and follow the geographic evolution of the infections and reveals the effectiveness of the strategies used to mitigate the spread of the virus. The top five countries with the most cumulative infections are currently ranked as follows: 1-USA, 2-Brazil, 3-India, 4-Russia, 5-South Africa. However, ranked by cumulative COVID-19 deaths, the rankings are different: 1-USA, 2-Brazil, 3-Mexico, 4-India, 5-Great Britain -- India overtook the UK’s position earlier today (look for their crossing lines in the graph below). Those rankings are fluid and change every day as you move down the long list of 215 affected countries and territories, but the single-day’s rankings are more indicative of the hot spots. Today’s rankings of new cases went as follows: 1-India, 2-Brazil, 3-USA, 4-Colombia, 5-Argentina, where India and Argentina set new cases records. The day’s new deaths top five ranks went as follows: 1-USA, 2-Brazil, 3-India, 4-Mexico, 5-Colombia. Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia are starting to show up in these top rankings because their overall positivity rates are all high and reveal uncontrolled spread and undertesting. Mexico ranks 6th in cumulative cases and has a positivity rate of 44.15%, Colombia is ranked 8th, with a positivity rate of 20.89%, while 13th ranked Argentina’s positivity rate is 30.32%. Also today, apparently, more people (733,449) were tested in India than in any other country, ahead of the US (545,231 reported tests); please note that Brazil is no longer reporting its daily testing data. I also included an article below on the troubling rise of new cases in Europe.

*:incomplete data set

Covid-19 news: Germany joins Spain in worrying surge of infections | newscientist.com

Coronavirus cases are rising in Germany, Spain and other countries in western Europe, with Spain recording 1418 new infections on Tuesday, and Germany detecting 1200 cases in the last 24 hours, the country’s biggest daily increase for three months. In the Netherlands, daily new infections are back to about half the level they were at during the initial peak. Spain now has the highest rate of coronavirus infections in the region, with 94 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 38 in the Netherlands, 30 in France, 18 in the UK and 14 in Germany, according to cumulative figures for the last 14 days from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 

Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, says people returning from holiday may be the reason for the increasing number of cases in Germany, as the UK and Germany continue to warn people against non-essential travel to parts of Spain. Any holidaymakers returning to the UK from Spain are required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. The list of countries from which all arrivals to the UK must quarantine may be updated this week to include 14 more countries, including France...READ MORE

There has been a 90% increase in Covid-19 cases in US children in the last four weeks, report says | cnn.com

As the nation focuses on safety issues around going back to school during the pandemic, a new report found a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States.

There has been a 90% increase in the number of Covid-19 cases among children in the United States over the last four weeks, according to a new analysis by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association that will be updated weekly.

Dr. Sean O'Leary, vice-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday that coronavirus cases in children should be taken seriously.

"It's not fair to say that this virus is completely benign in children," said O'Leary. "We've had 90 deaths in children in the US already, in just a few months. Every year we worry about influenza in children... READ MORE

The Madera County Department of Public Health COVID-19 Update:

8/12/2020 COVID-19 UPDATE: Reporting 169 new cases (second PEAK in two days) bringing the total number of reported cases to 2,759. We also regret to report 4 additional deaths.

Today, the local counties confirmed 1,549 new infections and the sad new daily record of 17 new coronavirus deaths. Many county records were broken today: most new cases in Madera (+69) and in Kings (+614 -- although this may be cumulative over multiple days), According to CovidActNow.org, Merced County is the most infectious county in California today:

COVID-19 in Madera + 6 local counties (+% is the positivity rate)

COVID-19 in the 7 counties together