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Hi everyone, this is John Mandrola from the Heart.org Redscape Cardiology, and this is this week in

Cardiology for April 17, 2020.

The virus continues to dominate the news, all news. So it will be tone-def and silly to speak

on anything else. First, the U.S. numbers. When I recorded last week, there were half a million

COVID-19 cases. Today there were

approximately 675,000 cases and that is interesting. The rate of rise two weeks

ago was threefold.

Last week it was twofold.

And this week it is only 1.35 times greater,

and that is good, especially since we are testing more. The death numbers also

tell an upbeat story. When I recorded last week, there were 16,000 deaths in the U.S. Today, there were 14,000 more for a total of about 29,900.

Now that sounds bad, but, but the rate of rise two weeks ago was fivefold.

Last week, about threefold, and this week the rate of rise is less than twofold at 1.8. Let me repeat, the rate of rise of death is falling by a lot and that is good news. Social

distancing surely is slowing the rate of rise of new cases, but I think the decreasing

...