Question

Catania saw more new cases than the available daily beds for the first time on Day 4.

Answer 1

Step 1: Get data for Catania: Daily beds = 50, VI = 7, Cases\(_{D1}\) = 39. Multiplier = 1.7.
Step 2: Project new cases day by day and compare to 50.

Day 2: Cases\(_{D2}\) = floor(39 \(\times\) 1.7) = 66. New cases = 66-39=27. (27<50)
Day 3: Cases\(_{D3}\) = floor(66 \(\times\) 1.7) = 112. New cases = 112-66=46. (46<50)
Day 4: Cases\(_{D4}\) = floor(112 \(\times\) 1.7) = 190. New cases = 190-112=78. (78>50)
Step 3: Evaluate the statement. Day 4 is the first day new cases (78) exceeded the daily beds (50). The statement is true.

Answer 2

Step 1: To find the city with the least cases, we should look for cities with low initial cases and low VI. Contenders are London (23 cases, VI 4.5) and Prague (27 cases, VI 4.5).
Step 2: Compare the growth of London and Prague. Since they have the same VI, the city that started with fewer cases (London) will have fewer cases at every subsequent day.
Step 3: Projecting cases for London for 10 days gives a total of 623. Projecting for Prague gives 745.
Step 4: Since London has fewer cases than Prague after 10 days, the statement that Prague saw the least number of cases is false.

Answer 3

Step 1: To find the city with the most cases, we should look for cities with high initial cases and high VI. The growth is dominated by the VI. Athens has the highest VI of 8.
Step 2: Let's project cases for Athens and another strong contender like Zaragoza (high initial cases).

Athens (VI=8, C1=36): Projection for 10 days gives a total of 7020 cases.
Zaragoza (VI=6.5, C1=43): Projection for 10 days gives a total of 3796 cases.
Step 3: The significantly higher VI of Athens leads to much faster exponential growth, resulting in the highest total number of cases. The statement is true.