The reason there are this many college towns is because this is a per capita ranking. You add tens of thousands of young people into mid-sized or small towns, and you get spiraling outbreaks. With less public health infrastructure, the more cases, the harder it is to contain. https://twitter.com/OcneanuStephana/status/1302357466005504001">https://twitter.com/OcneanuSt...

Case investigation and contact tracing is delayed — we& #39;ve seen anywhere from five days to a week or more — which means those people aren& #39;t necessarily quarantining, and their close contacts aren& #39;t either (except on their own recognizance).

That leaves you with more spread and a more limited picture of where it& #39;s spreading. Hospitalization rates have been raised in conversations about shutting down/shifting modalities, but hospitalizations are a lagging indicator, and young people aren& #39;t the only ones getting sick.

I spoke with the city/county health department director Stephanie Browning yesterday, and she said they& #39;ve seen an increase in community transmission (people contracting the virus in public spaces) and anticipates that trend will continue.

So that means, if the infection rate continues unchecked, you& #39;re getting into the fall and winter with increasing hospitalizations and community spread, and that& #39;s when your hospital capacity gets tested or overwhelmed, not now.

Having record numbers of cases every couple of days is pretty scary, but it& #39;s worth considering we& #39;re just at the start of this.