The coronavirus epidemic in the United States continues to accelerate. Much of the recent news has been about ongoing and unprecedented caseload increases in the large states of California, Texas and Florida, which indeed have been racking up record case numbers. Yet in terms of infection rate increases South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Idaho and Nevada have all left the larger states behind.
The graphic below highlights where new case loads have reached dangerous levels. Red indicates over 500 new cases daily per million population. The threshold for yellow is 200. New York state, home to America’s highest death counts thus far, currently has a rating of 50. Iran – one of the countries that has suffered the highest fatality rates – this week has a rating of 30.
The implications for such a runaway infection rate are many and varied. Political. Cultural. Strategic. Structural. Economic. Here at Zeihan on Geopolitics we’ll get to as many as we can as time and circumstances permit.
For today, however, we’re going to focus on the basics: food. Coronavirus has thrown the American and global agricultural systems for a loop. Today at 2p Eastern / 1p Central / noon Mountain / 11a Pacific Peter Zeihan will host a video conference on The State of Global Agriculture. Join us to get an update on food safety, food supply and to understand where agriculture falls in America’s ongoing trade conflicts.
