Experts revealed some factors as what lead the United States to have the highest COVID-19 cases and death toll, according to a recently published article.

COVID-19 Cases and Death Toll in the United States

As of this time, there are more than 5.2 million COVID-19 cases and a death toll of more than 335,000 around the globe. Of these cases, more than 2 million as well have recovered from the infectious and deadly virus according to worldometers.

Among the countries with COVID-19 cases, the United States is still at the top both in infections and death toll. As of this time, the United States has recorded more than 1.6 million and a death toll of more than 96,000 while more than 380,000 have recovered.

Why an Industrialized Country Leads the World Having the Highest Cases and Death Toll?

Until now, many speculated why an industrialized and a rich country has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and death toll. Experts revealed that many factors should be considered. This includes the population size, its response, testing and diagnostic, medical treatment, and more.

Experts say that the first factor of the voluminous number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is its late response to the virus. However, the experts asserted that the U.S. is not alone in this matter. Other developed countries like the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain have experienced the same.

Ron Waldman, a professor at George Washington University's school of public health, said: "We're probably grouped in with other worse countries. Certainly, Italy got killed, Spain got killed, Belgium, the U.K."

COVID-19 Cases Based on Population 

The United States has a population of more than 331 million while China has 1.4 billion according to worldometers. However, there are many reports that China has not been transparent to its number of infections and death toll.  

Needless to say about China, the U.S. ranks near the top in both cases and death toll even on a per-person basis. In another data compiled by a news outlet, the U.S. is on the 11th place with most cases per person and ranks 13th in the death toll. 

To give a logical example, Germany has a population of 83 million and in every 100,000 persons in the country there are 212 cases and 10 deaths recorded compared to the U.S. that in every 100,000 there are 470 infections and 28 deaths.

COVID-19 Response in Terms of Testing 

The U.S. claimed that they respond to the virus faster compared to other countries. However, this claim is being debunked because according to the figures compiled by Our World in Data, Denmark leads the world when it comes to testing. They conduct tests twice as much as the U.S.

Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said: "It's just that we had such a massive outbreak and we had six weeks of complete blindness to the pandemic because we had little or no testing."

He also added that in the span of weeks that Trump's administration did not conduct a rapid test, it allowed the virus to spread. He said: "Six weeks is a long time to not be paying attention to the biggest pandemic in a century." 

One of the factors seen also of the late response of the U.S. is the late declaration of the World Health Organization for the new coronavirus in early December last year and China's dishonesty about the presence of SARS-like virus at that time.

Now, the U.S. is trying its best to conduct rapid tests through the help of the Swiss drugmaker Roche that was recently approved by the U.S. FDA. The company promised that they will double their efforts and will conduct 100 million COVID-19 tests a month.

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