After five days of apparent improvement, Italy’s coronavirus outbreak worsened Friday, when the country reported more than 900 deaths:

The number of people who have died of novel coronavirus in Italy has risen by 969 in the past day, the biggest daily jump since the crisis began.

The total number of deaths now stands at 9,134, according to Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, more than any other country.

There has been an increase of 4,401 coronavirus cases in the past day, Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said.

The total number of recorded coronavirus cases in Italy, including deaths and those who recovered, now stands at 86,498.

The 969 figure includes 50 deaths that were not included in Thursday’s figures. The previous biggest spike in deaths came last Saturday, when there was an increase of 793.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Italy, 51 doctors who tested positive for the disease have died, the Italian Association of Doctors said Friday. Of those doctors, 32 were working in Lombardy, the Italian region worst-hit by coronavirus.

A total of 6,414 health care workers have been infected as of Thursday, according to the Italian National Institute of Health.

The previous highest number of daily coronavirus deaths in Italy was 793 last Saturday, and by Monday, they had fallen to 601. However, the daily number of new Wuhan virus cases, which also peaked last Saturday at 6,557, has since remained below that mark. Italy’s caseload is still very high, and increasing, as the number of new cases reported daily greatly exceeds the number of patients reported as recovered from the disease.

Meanwhile, in the United States, 18,691 new cases of Chinese coronavirus were reported Friday, and 401 deaths. Here are the latest state-by-state numbers, according to CNN:

New York ………………….. 44,635 (519 deaths)

New Jersey …………………. 8,825 (108 deaths)

California …………………….. 3,801 (78 deaths)

Washington …………………. 3,723 (175 deaths)

Michigan ……………………… 3,657 (92 deaths)

Massachusetts ……………… 3,240 (35 deaths)

Florida ………………………… 3,192 (45 deaths)

Illinois …………………………. 3,026 (34 deaths)

Louisiana ……………………… 2,746 (119 deaths)

Pennsylvania ……………….. 2,218 (22 deaths)

Georgia ……………………….. 2,198 (65 deaths)

The top 10 states account for 81,261 cases, which is 80% of the total of 101,241 coronavirus cases reported in the United States. Two states, New York and New Jersey, account for more than half the U.S total. The situation in New York is bad and getting worse:

More than a third of the country’s cases are in New York — which has been in a partial lockdown for a week as officials try to slow the spread of the virus and hospitals scramble to keep up with the patients streaming in.

The state’s healthcare system is already overwhelmed. One hospital was forced to create a makeshift morgue and another reported 13 patient deaths in 24 hours. New York and its National Guard are now assembling four 1,000-bed temporary, overflow hospitals in existing buildings.

If you look at the state-by-state numbers, you’ll see that, as a percentage of population, the Wuhan virus has had much less impact in California and Florida, compared to New York, while Texas, with only 1,731 cases, has been particularly fortunate thus far. Dig down a little deeper in the numbers, and you discover that in Florida, for example, their COVID-19 cases have been highly concentrated in three South Florida counties — Dade (869), Broward (631) and (241) — which combined account for nearly 55% (1,741) of the statewide total of cases. These counties have a combined population of about 6 million, which is less than 30% of Florida’s total population of about 21 million. What this suggests is that people living in Florida’s urban centers face substantially higher risk from the virus, and this is probably true nationwide.

Of course, there is no such thing as 100% safety, but during a pandemic of contagious disease, rural life is much safer than city life.









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