Meanwhile, people were dying. Two fatalities had occurred in Santa Clara County by February 25—the deaths of Patricia Dowd and another person—though not recognized as Covid-caused until months later. In Italy, of the 323 confirmed cases of COVID-19 by that date, eleven had proven fatal. China’s case count had exploded at the start, more than 78,000 by February 25, with 2,715 deaths. Soon afterward, thanks to draconian versions of nonpharmaceutical intervention, China would flatten its curve like a mesa. America’s curve over the coming months, into the following year, would resemble the Grand
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