Waiting on the Big Ten’s decision and an update on the numbers in the US.

Tonight, I was going to do a blog about the Big Ten canceling the football season and the medical reasons why it was done. Then, the league issued a press release saying that they had not actually taken the vote that was reported in the Detroit Free Press. Therefore, I’m going to hold judgment until there’s a public announcement on the fall sports season in the Big Ten.

I will give a brief update on the progression of the pandemic. New infections appear to be falling in most of the states and overall in the United States. Deaths are still persistent in places like Texas, Florida, California and Louisiana. This is likely due to the fact that death rates are trailing infection by 3 to 4 weeks.

Rt values for COVID-19 also appear to be declining. Thirty-eight of 50 states have numbers at or below 1.0, indicating a contraction of the infection over the past week.

While this is encouraging, it’s not clear that these trends will be sustained. Individuals need to continue to wear masks to assure these rates continue to drop.