US Could be New Epicenter of COVID-19 Pandemic

The US could become the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic due to a “very large acceleration” in infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Nearly 50,000 people in the US were infected with the highly contagious as of Tuesday morning. According to WHO, 40 percent of the new reported cases over last 24 hours emanated from the United States. The other 45 percent came from Europe.

Only China and Italy have had more people infected with the virus than the US.

Globally at least 407,000 people have been infected with the virus.

Locally there are six cases in Pasadena and five cases in nearby Altadena. South Pasadena and Arcadia each have three cases.

“We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the US,” said Margaret Harris. “So it does have that potential. We cannot say that is the case yet but it does have that potential.”

“…They (the United States) have a very large outbreak and an outbreak that is increasing in intensity,” Harris added.

Overall, the global outbreak is accelerating very rapidly and Harris expects large increases in case numbers.

Up until now, Europe has been the center of transmission with Italy the most badly-hit country with the world’s highest number of deaths, although fatalities have begun slowing there.