How Big Is This?

Are you ready for it. Italy has a population of 61 million...we have 348 million people. We are six times as large as Italy.

There are more than 23,000 coronavirus cases in the US and 295 deaths

By Shane Harris

March 21, 2020 at 9:03 p.m. EDT

Global anxiety over the coronavirus centered on Europe on Saturday, where Italy is bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s unceasing spread. Italian officials announced that 793 people had succumbed to the virus in a single day. The staggering number brought the nation’s total dead to more than 4,800, the most for a single country.

As death tolls mount across the continent, Italy has become a symbol of the enormous challenges facing public health authorities in Europe and in the United States, who are struggling to contain the virus.

Eleven days into Italy’s nationwide lockdown, which includes travel restrictions and the closure of most stores apart from groceries and pharmacies, the number of confirmed cases still soared, with 6,557 new cases since Friday. Hospitals and morgues were overwhelmed. The government has reported 53,578 total cases, concentrated in the northern part of the country.
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Italy’s struggle to keep up with the virus offered a glimpse into what U.S. health officials fear could be ahead in New York and elsewhere: shortages of respirators, basic medical equipment and beds in intensive-care units.