Coronavirus: Trump-Led US Doing Much Better Than Western Europe

The United States under President Trump is doing better handling the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus pandemic than the six most populous Western European nations combined, a TGP analysis shows. 

President Trump announces European travel ban, March 11, 2020, screen image.

The US with an estimated population of 330 million was compared to the 336 million combined estimated population of Germany (81 million), France (66 million), the United Kingdom (65 million), Italy (61 million), Spain (46 million) and the Netherlands (17 million). Source: World Population Review.

The US has as of mid-day Tuesday has about 165,000 cases and 3,186 deaths.

The six most populous nations in Western Europe have about 345,000 cases and 26,394 deaths.

Trump instituted travel bans targeting most European nations in mid-March.

Western Europe broken down by country with population and cases rounded (source: Worldometer):

Germany (81 million) Cases 68,000 Deaths 682
France (66 million) 44,000 Deaths 3,024
United Kingdom (65 million) Cases 25,000 Deaths 1,789
Italy (61 million) Cases 102,000 Deaths 11,591
Spain (46 million) Cases 94,000 Deaths 8,269
Netherlands (17 million) Cases 12,000 Deaths 1,039

Another way of examining is by cases and deaths per million (via Worldometer).

US cases per million: 500 (five hundred per million). Deaths per million: 10 (ten per million).

Germany cases per million: 814. Deaths per million: 8.

France cases per million: 683. Deaths per million: 46.

United Kingdom: cases per million: 370. Deaths per million: 26.

Italy cases per million: 1,683. Deaths per million: 192.

Spain cases per million: 2,019. Deaths per million: 177.

Netherlands cases per million: 753. Deaths: 61.

These numbers are where we are today. They will change as conditions change but they tell us that the United States under President Trump has done better than Western Europe as a whole in handling the coronavirus and certainly no worse than any of the individual nations in Western Europe.

UPDATE: The AP reports three nations, Italy, France and Spain, are not keeping track of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, leading to an under count in those nation’s handling of the virus.

Excerpt:

One by one, elderly residents of French nursing homes are going into forced isolation into their rooms. Their caregivers are walling themselves in as well, against both the known and the unknown. They are running out of body bags.

Governments in Europe’s hardest-hit countries — Italy, Spain and France — are not routinely testing for coronavirus among elderly residents who fall ill in nursing homes or even those who eventually die there, including those who suffered from symptoms of the disease.

The three countries together make up around a third of the global pandemic’s confirmed cases, and the lack of testing leaves hundreds, potentially thousands, of victims of the disease uncounted as health authorities try to trace its path, The Associated Press has found…