The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a record of over 54,000 new coronavirus cases – a record single-day jump that presses the United States further than what some thought was the peak this spring. For reference, as CNN reported, it took the United States a little more than two months to report its first 50,000 cases. Total U.S. cases are currently approaching 3,000,000, including over 130,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard tracker.
The infection curve is rising in 40 of 50 states, and 36 states are seeing an increase in the percentage of positive coronavirus tests, the AP reported. Some public health officials and governors are blaming bars for the increase in cases, the New York Times reported, while others are pointing to hasty business reopenings, according to Politico.
In related news, Florida set a state record for daily new coronavirus cases when it passed the 10,000 mark, Reuters reported. Florida infections increased 168 percent in June when it recorded more than 95,000 news cases. Since the end of May, positive test results have risen to 15 percent, a 9 percent increase. Only one other state, New York, has recorded more than 10,000 cases in a single day, at 12,847 on April 10, three weeks after the state issued stay-at-home orders. No European country reported more new daily cases than Florida at the peak of their outbreaks.
In a JAMA Q&A on YouTube, Anthony Fauci, MD, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), called this week "disturbing" and said although states with substantial surges make up about 50 percent of new cases in the United States, "what we need to emphasize to people is that even in those areas that are not showing a substantial surge, once you get surges like that in some areas of the country, other areas become vulnerable, because even though we are a very heterogeneous country, we are not without connection to each other, so the whole enterprise could be at risk," he said.
Fauci also noted that the surge could at least partly be attributed to lax lockdown measures in the United States, compared with more strict policies in European countries that have managed to contain their outbreaks.
