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The COVID-19 virus may have originated in China, but the United States has eclipsed it and every other country in terms of both infection rates and deaths. The U.S. last week had about 11.5 million confirmed cases and 130,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, compared with China’s 85,000 confirmed cases and 4,641 deaths.
New cases continued to increase last week in roughly 38 states, meaning many have not yet even flattened the curve. As a result, some cities and states are reinstating restrictions.
“It’s concerning for sure,” said economist Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president and chief policy officer of the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC). “The U.S. seems to be failing to contain this virus at a time when almost all the other advanced economies have been successful in doing so.
“From a Canadian perspective, just looking inside our own borders, we seem to have gotten through the worst of this pandemic-related economic downturn. The prevailing view is we’re through the worst of it in terms of what’s going on inside Canada, and we can look forward to some recovery of activity over the second half of the year and some positive growth in 2021.”
