On February 29th, 2020 Italy had 655 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while New York did not yet have a confirmed case. However, by March 17th New York had hit the 1000 case mark, with a total of 1,706 cases. Quickly after that date the rate of residents infected with COVID-19 in New York State sharply rose above Italy. In eleven days from hitting the 1,000 case mark New York recorded 52,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases, for a rate of 268 per 100,000 residents. Italy, twenty-eight days past hitting the 1,000 case mark, was still well below that level, with a rate of 153 confirmed COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
The table below shows the amount of days it has taken for cases to double in New York State versus Italy. New York is now doubling every three days while Italy is doubling every four to five days.
Number of Days to Double Cases in NY versus Italy
| 500 to 1K | 1K to 2K | 2K to 4K | 4K to 8K | 8K to 16K | 16K to 32K | |
| New York | 3d | 1d | 1d | 1d | 3d | 3d |
| Italy | 2d | 2d | 4d | 3d | 4d | 5d |
Data source: Confirmed COVID-19 cases from the data repository for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Visual Dashboard operated by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHU CSSE). Downloaded March 29th, 2020.