We have all been waiting for the curve to flatten so that we can feel safe going out again. Although there are definitely signs of this nationwide thanks to social distancing, the statistics on Secaucus' COVID-19 cases this week seem to suggest otherwise. The town actually saw a slight increase in the number of new cases over the last seven days. And perhaps more importantly, the number of Coronavirus related deaths has gone up significantly. All of this can be seen in the graph below. (Click on any of the data points in the graph to see specific details.)
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Over the course of the last seven days, the number of new cases in Secaucus went up from 272 to 351. That's an increase of 29.0%. Unfortunately, while that number is high, the increase in Coronavirus related deaths is even higher. That number almost doubled, going from 9 last week to 17 this week. That's a huge jump of 88.9%. So when we reported last week that the number of deaths in Secaucus seems to have plateaued, we obviously spoke too soon.
On a grander scale, these statistics aren't particular bad (relatively speaking). Percentage wise, they are in line with what New York CIty saw in the earlier stages of this pandemic. Given the number of Secaucus residents who commute to New York CIty on a daily basis, the similarities are not surprising. And like New York, the rate of local infections should be slowing down soon. It is just that the virus didn't really hit Secaucus until a couple of weeks after New York City. So it only makes sense that any improvements in the statistics are a little behind as well. Here's hoping that next week's numbers begin to reflect this.
