Jon Sanders

It's reasonable to infer that North Carolina hasn't witnessed excess deaths in the weeks following May 16. The state already was below the excess deaths threshold then, and COVID deaths were already declining — a decline that accelerated in subsequent weeks.

Here are some recent COVID-19 trends from the available data for North Carolina.

At 1,034 hospitalizations, we're about one-twelfth of the best-case scenario hospitalizations projected now. Taken in context, this scary number is good news, not bad.

We're testing more, we're finding more cases, and we're finding more asymptomatic and barely symptomatic cases, so therefore we're witnessing a falling proportion of cases that are deadly. As of today, the average deaths per day is half of where it was on June 2.

It sounds as if on June 28, there were no reported COVID-19 deaths. To anyone other than news media, this would be news. It would have been the first time since March 29 — the first time in three months — that happened.

Judge Covid, who should wear face masks?

Here is Cooper's decision matrix. One of the squares is a clear winner for freedom and self-determination in a state that boasts of being "First In Freedom." But there's also one that offers nothing but submission to the autocrat. Guess which one Cooper chose?

Roy Cordato's piece today on Roy Cooper’s self-serving distinction between people and property is a strong read.