The increase in US coronavirus cases over time looks like a steep staircase - a sign that the outbreak is far from contained

Aylin Woodward

Mar 18, 2020, 05:17 IST

The increase in US coronavirus cases over time looks like a steep staircase - a sign that the outbreak is far from contained

Eduardo Munoz/VIEWpress/Getty Images

People wear face masks in Times Square New York on March 3, 2020.

Since the US reported its first coronavirus case on January 20, its total of confirmed cases has risen to more than 6,300. More than 100 people in the US have died.
One chart shows how the number of new coronavirus cases reported each day in the US is rising over time.
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More than 6,300 people in the US have gotten the coronavirus, and more than 100 have died.

The US ranks eighth on the list of countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases. And the country's outbreak appears to be getting worse over time - its epidemic growth curve looks like a steep staircase, with each day bringing a new record number of new confirmed cases.

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For a month or so following the first confirmed US case, the number of infected people remained low: less than 15 cases. Then on February 28 - the day after the US' first case of community spread was reported - the number of cases started to rise each day, and that trend hasn't stopped.

Between March 10 and March 13, the number of new US cases tripled - in part due to the increase of coronavirus testing in state and private labs around the country.

Cases have now been reported in at least 49 states and Washington, DC. The illness has also spread to Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

The US' confirmed case count is likely still far lower than the real number of cases in the country. That's because, according to the COVID Tracking Project - a testing-tracking resource from two journalists at the Atlantic and the founder of a medical data startup - only 47,000 tests have been run in the US so far. (They note, however, that those figures may be incomplete due to different state policies on reporting negative tests.)

Here's where the US cases have been reported:

Countries that are on lockdown because of coronavirus

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