October 15, 2020
The United States and the European Union have comparable population sizes, but until recently the trajectories of their COVID-19 outbreaks in recent months have been vastly different. As new daily coronavirus cases continue to rise across most US states — prompting worries of a "third wave" in hospitalization rates — many European countries are fighting a full-blown "second wave" of the pandemic that has brought Europe's mortality closer to that of the US, and led more European governments to reinforce strict measures to contain COVID-19. The current situation is a sharp contrast to the disparity seen over the summer, when US cases were spiking across much of the Midwest and South while European countries seemed to have kept the coronavirus (mostly) in check due to stricter adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing. Here's a look at the seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases, and three-day rolling averages of new deaths and new deaths per capita in the EU vs the US since March.