U.S. virus cases top 5 million

Europe alarmed by America’s world-leading COVID-19 death toll

With the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe.

Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the Continent itself didn’t have when the first COVID-19 patients started filling intensive care units.

More than four months into a sustained outbreak, the U.S. reached the 5 million mark, according to the running count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Health officials believe that the actual number is perhaps 10 times higher, or closer to 50 million, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40 percent of all those who are infected have no symptoms.

“We Italians always saw America as a model,” said Massimo Franco, a columnist for the daily Corriere della Sera. “But with this virus, we’ve discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is nonexistent.”

With America’s world-leading death toll of more than 160,000, its politicized resistance to masks and its rising caseload, European nations have barred American tourists and visitors from other countries with growing cases from freely traveling to the bloc.

Mistakes were made in Europe, too, from delayed lockdowns to insufficient protections for nursing home elderly.

Hard-hit Spain, France, Britain and Germany have seen infection rebounds, with new cases topping 1,000 a day. Italy’s case tally went over 500 on Friday.

In the U.S., the number of new cases is running at about 54,000 a day. And while that’s down from a peak of well over 70,000 last month, the number of cases is rising in nearly 20 states, and the number of deaths is climbing in most.

President Donald Trump has defended the U.S. response, blaming China, where the virus was first detected, for America’s problems and saying the U.S. numbers are so high because there is so much testing. In other developments:

Texas has 4,879 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 116 additional deaths from COVID-19, state health officials reported Sunday.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said there are now 486,362 confirmed cases in the state and 8,459 fatalities.

The number of Texans hospitalized with the disease fell again Sunday to 7,437. But on Saturday, state health officials reported that more than 1 in 5 tests for the virus over the past week had come back positive.