America Is Having A Third Coronavirus Wave. Some Countries Are Having Their First.

America Is Having A Third Coronavirus Wave. Some Countries Are Having Their First. People and politicians have reached the "bargaining" stage of the pandemic. YahooNews

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AND: Europe’s Deadly Second Wave: How Did It Happen Again?

The world is losing the battle against the coronavirus. As of last week, COVID-19 caseloads were rising in 115 countries and falling in just 83. Of the countries with rising caseloads, 26 saw new cases double over the previous week.

But the structure of the pandemic shows striking local differences. While the United States is experiencing its third wave of the virus, some countries are just now having their first. Falling temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, eased restrictions and an overwhelming sense of fatigue are transforming coronavirus superstars into basket cases.

The Czech Republic, for example, was reporting just three COVID-19 deaths per day in August. By November, the figure had soared to over 200 deaths per day. Poland had 475 new cases per day in mid-September. Two months later, it was averaging 25,000.

This pattern of low cases for months before an autumn explosion has played out in every part of the world. Jordan’s caseloads were in the single digits all year, then rose steadily to 54 per day by Sept. 1, then 900 per day by Oct. 1, then up to 3,500 per day by Nov. 1. Turkey’s caseloads have skyrocketed to the point that the graph line is almost vertical, rising tenfold since mid-November.

Even in Asia, where strict lockdowns, widespread testing and diligent contact tracing have kept cases impressively low, Japan and South Korea are now both experiencing alarmingly high infection rates.