August 12, 2020

Coronavirus Growth in Western Countries: August 11 Update

Here’s the coronavirus death toll through August 11. The US passed a milestone on Tuesday: total deaths from COVID-19 passed 500 per million. This is not the hightest rate even among the small selection of countries I track here, but it will probably be the highest before long. Here’s what the trendlines look like:

We’ll pass Italy and Sweden by the end of the month, and maybe even the UK by the end of September. It all depends on how quickly we get past our second peak, something that none of the other countries had. We didn’t have to have it either, but that’s what happens when your national leadership is asleep at the wheel.

The raw data from Johns Hopkins is here.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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