Yes but all the data is corrupt as it is tied to regional medical biases. For example - Italian doctors will call the cause of death for a 90 year old with terminal cancer COvid if they test positive. Russian and German doctors don’t. So a big picture step back is sometimes warranted.
OTOH, Italy is 8 days ahead of the US. Germany & Russia don't have similar experiences for the US to accurately track.
So, I take the 8 days as a great leading indicator, with the potential corruption of individual cases with a grain of salt.
The alternative is a larger, more accurate pool of total results, but without the oh so crucial timing element.