iStock/Unimagic(NEW YORK) — It’s official, there are more cases of COVID-19 in the United States of America than any country in the entire world. With global cases topping 529,591 and the worldwide death toll surpassing 23,970, the only continent that has yet to report a case or death is Antarctica.
As for total amount of recoveries, the number stands worldwide at 122,150.
On Thursday, the United States overtook China and Italy as being the country with most diagnosed cases of COVID-19. Currently, there are 83,836 cases compared to China’s 81,782 and Italy’s 80,589.
So far, 1,178 people have died from the virus in the U.S. versus Italy’s 8,215 and Spain’s 4,154.
Vice President Mike Pence declared that 552,000 tests have been conducted around the country, including private hospitals. Pence further encouraged companies to send results to federal health experts.
At Thursday’s White House daily press conference, the vice president said, “It’s so important that any hospital or any lab that’s doing testing report back to the CDC and FEMA so we have full visibility to provide the president with the very best counsel.”
Also on Thursday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force predicts that the virus will not infect a large majority of Americans — saying “There’s no reality on the ground where we can see that 60 or 70% of Americans get infected in the next eight to 12 weeks.
In addition to that announcement, the U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday that 3.28 million Americans have filed for unemployment.
This number shatters the previous record that was set in 1982, which was 695,000. Just a week ago, the unemployment rate had been flirting with a near 50-year low.
The recent numbers show that unemployment filings spiked by three million from the previous week, with the biggest hit reported in the food service and accommodation industry.
Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor’s senior economist, said Thursday, “The coronavirus outbreak is a truly unprecedented event in American economic history, flash-freezing the economy by forcing businesses to shut down and putting millions of American workers out of jobs.”
Added Zhao, “As today’s report shows, the coronavirus outbreak is economically akin to a major hurricane occurring in every state around the country for weeks on end.”
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