The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents with an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate the performance of mathematical modeling frameworks for forecasting the trajectory of the pandemic at different spatial scales. Using the sub-epidemic wave modeling framework and the mechanistic SEIR-type models tailored to the epidemiology of COVID-19, I will discuss short-term forecasts of case incidence and mortality in different parts of the world including the epidemics in China and various hotspots in Europe and the United States.