As states continue to set records with daily COVID-19 case counts, fatalities due the virus are beginning to creep upward, with Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, California, and Florida all breaking records for average daily fatalities over the past seven days, according to a news report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, according to a news report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
And more than 80 percent of intensive care beds are occupied in Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia. The summer surge of virus activity is widespread, with 43 states reporting increasing numbers of cases over the past two weeks. Governors in 23 states have now ordered the mandatory wearing of face masks or coverings in public.
The state hardest hit may now be Florida, which set a record this past weekend with 15,300 new cases confirmed yesterday. According to the Washington Post, that figure is a new national high, replacing previous highs of 11,694 reported by California last week and 11,571 reported by New York on Apr 15. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said "there is no doubt that our death rate is going to go up after the next week or two."
In Houston, infection rates have led Mayor Sylvester Turner to call for a two-week mandatory shutdown, according to the Houston Chronicle. "COVID19 is a virus that continues to run rampant in our city. What we do in the next couple of weeks is important to helping to combat this virus," Turner wrote on Twitter. "This virus is an equal opportunity abuser. It does not matter what your background is, it can affect us all."
According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker, the United States has over 3,300,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 135,000 deaths.
