Just how much the United States is under testing for COVID-19 is shown by the meager less than 200 tests per 100K people compared to South Korea's 700 tests per 100K people. This drastic under testing can lead to countries being unaware of the scope of the coronavirus's spread in their country. When statistics show inaccurate numbers because of under testing, it can lead to delayed and uncoordinated government responses. 

Comparing the different responses and death and infection rates of each country can reveal how big an effect a fast and coordinated response can have. Countries can have different outcomes regardless of size or population. For example, if we compare the population densities of two states, the US and Germany, the US has a population density of 36 people/ km^2, but Germany has a population density of 240 people/ km^2. We would expect that Germany would be more affected because people are closer together, but the US has about 18000 cases per 1 million people. In comparison, Germany has only had about 3000 cases per 1 million people. Germany's initial response differed from the US because Germany rigorously tested and considered the virus as a more significant threat and responded accordingly. This shows that bigger outbreaks can be contained through lots of testing and that the severity of outbreaks is not determined by the size or population of the country.

While the US has been affected heavily by the coronavirus, individual states have been affected differently. Since a lot of power is in the states instead of the federal government, states must take action accordingly. Recently, many states have begun lifting restrictions and stay at home orders. Others, like California, Georgia, and New York, have not lifted those restrictions. The effect of this is dramatic. The states that have not lifted stay-at-home orders have less than 10 cases per 100k people in the past week, while others are in the 20-50 range of cases per 100k people in the past week. Lifting restrictions too fast can cause more cases and death, and they can delay reopenings even more by making the states close down again. States like California or Georgia had a big initial boom but stopped an even bigger outbreak by imposing strict restrictions from the beginning. Other states that did not have a big initial boom were slow to impose those same restrictions, and it caused a much bigger outbreak that could have been avoided.

The coronavirus does not have an already selected course. The actions that the governments and people take can dramatically alter the path of the outbreak. This is crucial to keep cases from overwhelming hospitals and lessen deaths. The steps and actions we take now are going to decide the outcome of the pandemic. While everyone wants to go back to normal life, the fastest way we will achieve that is by obeying restrictions and putting off those parties for a little while.