COVID-19 in Continental America

Abstract

Background: In late December 2019, a coronavirus outbreak first occurred in Wuhan, China, and then spread worldwide, which became a major global emergency. This severe respiratory illness called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is transmitted through respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 in continental America. Methods: This study was an ecological study describing the epidemiological features of COVID-19 in the Americas. The data of identified definitive cases and deaths from this disease and other information were extracted from the reports of the World Health Organization and transferred to SPSS software (version 24). Furthermore, the case fatality rate was separately calculated for each country. Results: The highest number of COVID-19 reported cases and the highest COVID-19 mortality rate were in the United States, with 72,186,963 and 1,896,955 cases, respectively. Moreover, the highest case fatality rate was reported as 9.38% in Peru. Conclusions: The prevention of COVID-19 transmission in countries is possible with general vaccination and observation of social distancing. These measures reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and are effective ways to control this global health problem.