Are we having fun yet? How about some fun numbers to put everything into perspective.
92,000 – Highest number of new unemployment claims filed since March of 2005 (Beacon Economics)
215,000 – Number of new unemployment claims filed week ending March 21st 2020 (Beacon Economics)
-6.3% – UCLA Anderson’s GDP Growth Forecast for 2020 Q2
-24% – Goldman Sachs forecast of the same
17 – Number of states now instituting shelter-in-place provisions as of March 23rd – California, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Idaho, Colorado, Georgia, Oregon, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Indiana and Washington.
$2.3M – The price of a new home we just put into escrow (Yes, life goes on)
33,404 – Total number of COVID-19 Cases as of March 23rd at 10:00pm, 449 travel related, 539 through close contact, 32,416 under investigation
3/23/2020 – My 43 yr and 10-month anniversary and the day US deaths reached 400 from COVID-19 (cdc.gov)
$1.1M – The price of our new income property listing near USC (I already told you – life goes on)
350,000+ – Number of COVID-19 cases reported by government agencies worldwide (NBC LA News)
414,247 –Number of COVID-19 cases reported by government agencies worldwide (Fox News)
15,000+ – Number of COVID-19 deaths reported by government agencies worldwide (NBC LA News)
18,557 – Number of COVID-19 deaths reported by government agencies worldwide (Fox News)
12 – The number of listings we currently have in play, without the ability to have public open houses or broker open houses or even private showings (but in the best interests of our health and others)
6 – The number of days it took the world to double the reported number of COVID-19 deaths to 14,602 (European Center of Disease Control)
5 – Days it took Italy to double to 5,476 (ECDC)
37 – Days it took China to double to 3,276 (ECDC)
7 – Days it took Iran to double to 1,685 (ECDC)
4 – Days it took France to double to 674 (ECDC)
3 – Days it took Peru to double to 5 (ECDC)
316,664 – Total COVID-19 tests performed in South Korea (ourworldindata.org)
103,945 – Total COVID-19 test performed in the United States (ourworldindata.org)
12,738 – Number of COVID-19 tests performed in United Arab Emirates per 1,000,000 citizens (ourworldindata.org)
313.6 – The same data for the United States (ourworldindata.org)
What are you doing to pass the time in isolation? Are you a little demented like me and reading through statistics to watch the numbers? Catching up on your reading? Cleaning off your desk (me)? Spring cleaning in the garage? Calling old friends to catch up?
Allow me to make some suggestions. Read a good book (or books.) Contact your Church,Temple or Mosque and see what members are older and isolated, and what you can do to deliver groceries or pharmaceuticals. Reach out to friends you may know who are single and stuck alone. Go online and join in on a game of scrabble, bridge, poker or chess. Or call your mother and father and children every day. Every single day.
Be well and safe.
Mark
