Yes, the numbers are interesting, but the only ones that make sense (for a comparison) is # of patients/deaths per million. The # of patients really refers to how well a country tests, but the number of deaths are a number to compare - although you need to consider where different countries are on the curve and you need to remove some numbers entirely because they are flat out lies - China, Iran, Russia etc. - and weigh countries that have done significant testing more - S.Korea, Singapore and now (very slowly) Germany and the US.
The WSJ had a very sobering article on Italy - tying the massive outbreak in Italy and Spain to a soccer game.
Here is the link (you need to be a subscriber) and an excerpt from the article:
"Everything was crowded. The roads, all the surroundings, the stadium," said Mr. Pontiggia, 55, who took nearly three hours to complete the 35-mile drive to the San Siro. "It was practically a whole town moving to Milan. It was amazing, incredible."
It was also a contagion disaster. Atalanta fans were walking into a petri dish. In a single mass gathering, they were about to prove how sporting events could end up at the center of a global pandemic.
By then, the coronavirus was spreading through untold numbers of asymptomatic carriers. Forty thousand bouncing, hugging soccer fans were the perfect vector: Experts are now convinced that Atalanta's 4-1 win over Valencia was a catalyst in turning Lombardy into one of the worst-hit regions on the planet. The coronavirus was so present inside the stadium that night that once Valencia returned to Spain, 35% of its traveling squad eventually tested positive.
"Two weeks after Feb. 19, there was an incredible explosion of cases," said Dr. Francesco Le Foche, an immunologist in charge of infectious disease at Policlinico Umberto I in Rome. "The match played a huge role in disseminating coronavirus throughout Lombardy and in Bergamo in particular."
I suspect that the majority of fans were younger and felt "fine".
