More than 12.2 million cases have been confirmed in the U.S. as of the beginning of December, a number that surpasses every other country’s total. The U.S. has confirmed more than 3 million cases more than India, the country with the second-highest number of infections. India has seen more than 9 million cases and has recorded a rate of 60,000 cases per day for multiple weeks as well. According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, The U.S. on the first of December marked the 20th straight day of more than 100,000 new confirmed COVID-19 infections. Deaths in the U.S. also continue to climb and most recently passed 275,000 deaths, another statistic that sits far higher than the levels recorded in other countries. These statistics can be easily compared to countries who are deemed as successful in containing the outbreak such as Australia.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services announced the state has yet again achieved a day of zero new cases and zero deaths since early June. This prompted locked-down residents to start a trend of celebrating the end of the second wave of Covid-19 infections with doughnuts, posting photos and emojis on social media with the hashtag #donutday. Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, declared it a “good day” and posed with a classic glazed, while the state’s chief health officer, Prof Brett Sutton (who has replaced the “O” in his Twitter username with a doughnut emoji) was welcomed home from work with a mixed box. Since restrictions were lifted, donut sales have doubled, and they’ve sold out just after lunch on every double-zero (no new cases, no new deaths) day.
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