The spread of COVID-19 is close to out of control in some parts of the United States and several other large countries around the world. The United States added over 86,000 confirmed cases yesterday, and the total is now 9,043,390. Global cases have reached 45,065,852 and fatal cases number 1,181,780.

One U.S. county has the largest number of cases among all counties by far. The figure in Los Angeles County topped 300,726, which makes it the first county where cases have risen above 300,000. Fatal cases in the county hit 7,040. Those numbers are a large portion of the figure for California, the second hardest-hit state behind Texas. California has 926,893 confirmed cases and 17,571 fatal ones.

Los Angeles is the largest county based on population in the country by far. With 10,105,518 residents, it is about double the next county by the same measure, which is Cook County, home of Chicago, with 5,180,493. Harris County, home to Houston, has a population of 4,698,619. Cook County has 183,649 confirmed cases and 5,463 deaths. Harris County has 160,984 confirmed cases and 2,800 deaths.

The only place comparable to Los Angeles County in case counts is New York City, which is made up of five counties (Bronx, Kings, Queens, New York and Richmond). New York City has 266,321 confirmed cases and 23,989 deaths. The reason its death count is so high is that it was hammered by the disease in March and April, as hospital ICU wards, emergency rooms and even funeral homes became overwhelmed. The city also had an unusually large number of deaths in nursing homes. Since then, an almost total lockdown of the city and regular social distancing and mask wearing has tamped the growth in cases well down.

Los Angeles County is home to a number of large cities. The City of Los Angeles is the largest of these with 3,990,456 residents. Long Beach has 467,354, Santa Clara has 210,089 and Glendale has 201,361. In all, the county has 14 cities with over 100,000 residents.

The Los Angeles County confirmed case count is larger than the count in all but six entire states. Texas has 938,624, while California has 926,893, Florida has 794,624 and New York State has 507,913. Illinois has 401,622 and Georgia has 368,840. Just below the Los Angeles County figure, North Carolina has 269,491.

Beyond the total case count, the bad news for residents of Los Angeles County is that the number of cases continues to rise rapidly. Yesterday, confirmed cases grew by 1,288 and fatal cases rose by 13.

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