U.S. passes Italy in COVID-19 deaths
by Mickey McLean
Posted 4/13/20, 10:31 am
The United States leads the world in many categories, but it now finds itself in first place on a grievous list. The U.S. death toll eclipsed that of Italy on Saturday and stood at more than 22,000 fatalities as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States by Saturday had exceeded a half-million confirmed cases and now records more than 42,000 recoveries. Italy, which has less than one-fifth of the population of the United States, reported on Monday nearly 20,000 deaths, with more than 156,000 confirmed infections and approximately 34,200 recoveries.
Is there any good news related to COVID-19? Crime is down in much of the world as people shelter in place. When compared to the same time last year, drug arrests in Chicago decreased by 42 percent since Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered a shutdown. Overall, crime is down 10 percent in the Windy City.
Dig deeper: Read Emily Belz’s report on hospitals in the Northeast sending a fleet of helicopters to help evacuate New York COVID-19 patients needing oxygen.
Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.

Mickey McLean
Mickey is WORLD’s executive editor for audience engagement. He previously was the executive editor for WORLD Digital. Mickey resides in Greensboro, N.C. Follow him on Twitter @MickeyMcLean.
Comments
Rich277
Posted: Sun, 04/12/2020 08:30 amThe population of Italy is 61 million.
The population of the US is 328 million.
MIKED
Posted: Sun, 04/12/2020 10:40 amYes; thank you. My point as well.
Why has the Media - including World - failed to keep this situation, tragic as it is, in perspective. Of course the United States has exceeded Italy's death toll; we have five and a half times as many people!
Now, Media, can you also tell us how many deaths have occurred from flu, pneumonia, smoking, suicide, heart disease (not to mention abortion - that's a different subject) during this same time frame.
Web Editor
Posted: Mon, 04/13/2020 10:15 amWe have updated the report to note the difference in population.
My Two Cents
Posted: Mon, 04/13/2020 01:26 pmIt would be interesting to read about how the CDC reports deaths not directly CAUSED by Covid-19. Specifically, a man in his 70s with underlying health issues who dies. If he is in stage 4 lung cancer due to 40 years of heavy smoking, and is diagnosed with Covid-19, should the cause of death be listed as lung cancer, or Covid-19? Even if it's a contributing factor, the Covid-19 death numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
RW
Posted: Mon, 04/13/2020 01:52 pmBetter chart on virus numbers
https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
Big Jim
Posted: Mon, 04/13/2020 02:21 pmHey RW, that's a really helpful link, best I've seen.
JACKIE PARFET
Posted: Mon, 04/13/2020 04:44 pmMore accurately, New York has passed Italy in Covid deaths... and another observation: Why is there so little reporting on the numbers of new cases daily? Some data sources I find show that number decreasing pretty quickly...