The U.S. pace of coronavirus infection has risen so quickly that the number of confirmed cases has started to rise at the rate of over 200,000 a day, about twice the rate of two months ago. Today, total confirmed cases reached above 15 million, up by 158,715 from the day before to 15,038,546. Fatal cases rose 1,128 to 286,692. Total confirmed cases may reach 20 million by the end of December.
Confirmed cases are concentrated in several large states and counties. Texas has 1,399,167 confirmed cases. California has 1,358,215. Florida just moved above the 1-million mark to 1,065,785. Illinois has 797,789, and New York State has 717,930.
The county that has posted the highest case count is Los Angeles County, America’s largest county, with a population of over 10 million. It has 445,891 confirmed cases. Cook County, the nation’s second-largest by population, has 329,003. It is home to Chicago.
Miami-Dade County has 243,050 cases, followed by Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, the fastest-growing large city in America, at 228,312. Next, Harris County, home to Houston, has 148,172. It is followed by Dallas County at 148,172.
The U.S. confirmed case count is a shockingly high percentage of the world total, which is 67,618,431. America is also well ahead of any other nation, although many experts believe the counts are much too low in some developing nations.
India has 9,704,263. It is the world’s second-largest country by population, just behind China, with over 1.3 million people. Brazil has the third-largest number of confirmed cases at 6,628,065, followed by Russia at 2,515,009.
The distribution of a vaccine in the United States should begin in a matter of days. The batches released this month will go to parts of the medical community, particularly those who work on the front lines, mainly in hospitals. People in nursing homes, which have been the location of as many as 40% of U.S. deaths, also will receive vaccines early. However, it may be well into the spring before most Americans have been inoculated. That means that confirmed cases will rise rapidly, at least until then.
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