especially Italy (which is much older than the U.S. on average). Our population is 5-6 times the size and with the exception of New York city, much less dense. Look at ratios not actual counts.
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different things. Even the rate at which we can process the test affects the curve shape drastically. Countries that could process the tests quickly, had a better chance of having a flatter curve. Ours will go up tremendously early on because we were slow to start testing and then have ramped it up drastically all at once, causing a surge of positive results all at once. A curve taking into account the ratio of cases based on population is probably a little more accurate but still doesn't give a great picture.