I heard things are going better in your area than they were a few months ago, Wat? Looks like most of the higher rates right now are concentrated in the middle of the country and a bit farther east.
Quite so. At the moment according to covidactnow, my county is the 29th lowest out of 39 for daily new cases per capita (hovering around 3/day/100k). Since July we've managed to stay under 5/day/100k, which I think is quite good, especially considering we have a moderate population density. I think the main explanation for our success is that most people took the virus very seriously, and we had early use and high compliance of social distancing and masks in public spaces.
When I hop a few counties over, though, it's like a whole different world in terms of how people behave with the virus, and I think it shows with how much higher their case rates have been over time. Chelan County for instance spiked over the summer to over 40 new cases per day per 100k, and even now they still hover at more than 10. This, despite being a lower population density county. I think many people over there believed the virus was an "urban problem", and it surprised them.
Keeping up with the curve is a better way to state it, Wat, very appropriate- I always chuckle when I hear "we're rounding the corner, folks." That must be one mighty long corner.....
What an appropriate title, Wat: "Cyanide and Happiness" Heh. That looks like the infamous hockey stick curve right there =\
Seeing the same exact thing, except in my case it's in reverse. In my drive going from East to West I saw mask use decrease the farther West I went, in your case it looks like it decreased the farther East you went? In my post above I indicated that mask use was less in more open spaces which is to be expected, of course, but less urban areas also have stores and supermarkets, and I watched people enter those in relatively large numbers without masks too.
There was a bike rally during the summer in South Dakota and thousands of bikers went there from various parts of the country. They mistakenly thought that since the rally was in a rural area that there was little risk of spreading the virus and not only did many not wear masks but they didn't even bring any with them. It turned out later, a few COVID outbreaks and a number of deaths across several states were later traced back to that rally. That's why what occurs over the holidays might be something to be concerned about, especially with the colder weather and many indoor gatherings with lots of travel from various parts of the country going on.
After this is all over, a psychological/sociological study into the response of people across various nations and across various demographics within nations and their states/provinces with the different variables involved, would make for an interesting read.