COVID-19: how to get the CONFIRMED case numbers

I have been using the CDC to get information on COVID-1919, because the CDC reports confirmed cases, NOT ESTIMATES. I highly recommend you do the same, but the website can be somewhat intimidating for those note familiar with it. I normally use this website to get information related to my career as an Immunologist, so I am very familiar with it. So I thought it might be useful to give you a step-by-step on how I get my information on COVID-19 from the CDC website.

Step 1: go to www.cdc.gov

Step 2: Click on “Learn more about COVID-19” which is the light blue button to the right of the virus picture. There are many things that you can read about here, such as symptoms and current living guidelines. But I generally like to stick to the numbers, such as current number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, NOT ESTIMATES as that tends to be inaccurate.

Step 3: So for that type of information, I have 3 choices. I can either view USA cases per day, certain state cases per day, or details per state.

FOR ALL THREE TYPES OF INFORMATION

Once you get to the “Learn more about COVID-19” page from Step 2 above, scroll down to see the USA map which is color coded per state for ranges of confirmed cases. The “Latest Updates” list of links if very informative, but the link we are looking for to stick with our goal is not there. Just above the map, click on the link that says “Cases in U.S.”

Step 4: You will now be taken to your control center, which looks like this. The first thing you will see at the bottom of your screen in light blue is the “COVID-19: U.S. at a Glance*” and it will freak you out because the number of total cases is huge. In this screenshot, that was 10,442. Keep in mind this is the ESTIMATED NUMBER not the confirmed number and is consistently about 5 times larger than the actual CONFIRMED CASE number. Also keep in mind that the testing kits are still limited and that's why these two numbers (estimated and confirmed cases) are so different. The confirmed number of deaths is below that. In this screenshot, that was 150.

Step 5: Continue scrolling and you will find the same map you saw at Step 3, but this time, if you put your arrow over the state you are interested in BUT DON’T CLICK (JUST HOVER OVER IT), it gives you the current number of cases for that state (it also tells you what state it is, in case you don’t know your geography very well).

If you are interested in details about a particular state, you can get that by clicking on the state you are interested in. You will then be sent to the state’s individual “CDC-like” institution to get additional information such as what counties are reporting positive cases.

Step 6: If you want total number of CONFIRMED cases in the U.S., you scroll a bit further to get to the graph below. In the title of this graph is the current number of U.S. CONFIRMED CASES time and date stamped so you know how current it is. For the snapshot I took below, the total CONFIRMED CASES on March 18^th at 4PM Eastern Time (ET) was 1,891.

You can also hover over each bar for the total number of cases reported for any particular day. One note on this CONFIRMED CASE number. The CDC updates the numbers per day as the states/counties report them. So even though the below graph looks like the last 4 days have declining CONFIRMED CASE numbers, it is more likely that all states/counties have not reported them yet on these last 4 days. They have those dates shaded out with a note on the graph that says “Illnesses that began during this time may not yet be reported”.

Step 7: Do NOT panic. As a country, we have not ignored this new virus, but are instead facing it with a unified goal to slow the peak of infection so that our hospitals are not overrun by those who are most susceptible to it (those over 65 with underlying health conditions). This is a much more responsible approach and should slow the peak of infection. Stay safe out there. Pray for our medical teams as they stand in the battle field for our loved ones. Pray that we will continue to have the necessary supply of medications to treat their respiratory illness. Pray for those who have the flu, that they will not be left behind as their death rate is 3-times more likely than those infected with this coronavirus.