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U.S. Virus Cases Accelerate While Trump and Governors Move On

U.S. Virus Cases Accelerate While Trump and Governors Move On

President Donald Trump prepared for a rally in an Oklahoma arena against public health advice. Governors in Texas, Arizona and Florida vowed to keep businesses open. Social media was mired in debate over whether wearing a face covering is a political act. And a resurgent Covid-19 barreled across the southern and western U.S.

American cases increased by 31,489 over 24 hours through Friday afternoon, to 2.21 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The 1.4% increase was faster than the average daily increase of 1.1% over the past week, and the biggest percentage rise in six days.

For a while, climbing caseloads in Sun Belt states were balanced by a slowdown in Covid-19’s spread in other parts of the country, keeping the national numbers steady overall. That changed Friday with record tallies in Florida and California.

The Trump administration has minimized the severity and seriousness of the new outbreak, citing wider testing as a possible reason for higher caseloads. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also pointed to the younger average age of people with the illness, which has been more severe and fatal in older people.

In many states with rising case counts, hospitals still have capacity, and deaths aren’t climbing as quickly. Nationally, deaths inched up 0.6% Friday to 118,798.

It’s also possible that Friday’s national increase in case counts will end up being a blip on an otherwise stable trajectory. Still, the pace of Covid-19’s revitalization this week has been breathtaking:

  • Cases in Arizona rose 7.5% to 46,706, according to the data from Johns Hopkins and Bloomberg News. The state reported 41 new deaths, raising the total to 1,312.
  • Florida reported 89,748 cases, up 4.4% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 3.2% in the previous seven days. Deaths reached 3,104, an increase of 1.4%. The new rate of people testing positive for the first time climbed to 10% for Thursday, from 8.8% on Wednesday.
  • Texas cases rose 3.5% to 103,305, outpacing the previous seven-day average of 2.9%. Hospitalizations rose for the eighth-straight day to 3,148, up 6.8% from the day before. As of Friday, the state had reported 2,140 deaths.
  • California cases rose 2.7% to 165,416 while deaths increased 1.3% to 5,360, according to the state’s website. The increase in new cases has climbed for three days. Patients in intensive care rose 0.8% to 1,128, though hospitalizations overall fell by 0.3%.

Along with Latin America, where the virus is spreading rampantly, the U.S. is contributing to a global acceleration of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. Almost half of new cases are coming from the Americas, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief, said Friday.

“The world is in a new and dangerous phase,” Tedros said. “Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies. But the virus is still spreading fast. It is still deadly and most people are still susceptible.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.