As the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world, and the number of cases in the United States rises relentlessly, there are now three countries that have over a million confirmed cases. They are the United States at 3,834,208, Brazil at 2,099,896 and India at 1,119,412.

The confirmed case count of each nation also continues to rise rapidly. The U.S. number recently has topped 50,000 a day, and over 60,000 often. Today, the increase was 52,223. Confirmed cases in Brazil rose 24,772. A month ago, some experts expected Brazil to top the United States in confirmed cases. The number of cases added in the United States each day makes that very unlikely. India’s one-day increase was 40,630.

As measured by COVID-19 deaths, the United States is far ahead of the two others. Fatal cases in America number 142,601. In Brazil, the figure is 79,533, and in India, it is 27,514. Experts believe the Brazilian and Indian figures are undercounted. This has to do with government infrastructures for collecting information that make it hard to tally figures. So, deaths are undercounted in the poor parts of large cities, and the vast, less-populated rural areas have almost no means to count COVID-19 confirmed cases accurately at all.

Looking at the fatalities in India, the Washington Post reported: “Experts say government data on deaths is certain to be incomplete in a country where a large majority of people die in rural areas and without any medical attention, making them less likely to be tested or diagnosed.”

The high death and confirmed case totals in the United States are easier to explain. Huge counts in both categories come from New York State, which was hit horribly hard early in the COVID-19 crisis in America. While the increases have slowed sharply in recent weeks, New York is still the leader. It has 406,807 confirmed cases and 32,409 deaths.

The American counts nationwide continue to soar despite the improvement in New York. The three states with the highest population have posted huge numbers in the past week. California has 386,692 confirmed cases and 7,685 fatal ones. In Florida, there have been 350,047 confirmed cases and 4,982 deaths. Texas has 325,030 confirmed cases and 3,859 deaths.

Many health officials blame the rapid growth in confirmed cases in the three states on lack of the use of masks in many places and poor social distancing.

Theories about the relatively low death rates in Florida, Texas and California fall into two categories. The first is that the people who have contracted the disease in these three states are, on average, younger than in New York and less likely to die. The other is that deaths often trail infections by several weeks as symptoms worsen.

The three countries have different reasons for their rise in cases. Nevertheless, the outcomes are similar.

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