Covid-19 Soars in Red States as Trump Restarts Rallies
Covid-19’s sweep across the Midwest and West is pounding several Republican strongholds and the key swing state of Wisconsin.
(Bloomberg) -- Three weeks from Election Day, Covid-19’s sweep across the Midwest and West is pounding several Republican strongholds and the key swing state of Wisconsin.
The hardest-hit states, based on trailing one-week new cases per capita, are now North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Utah, according to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations are also on the rise in all five, Covid Tracking Project data show.
President Donald Trump was set to return to the campaign trail this week after his own Covid-19 hospitalization, resuming rallies where mask and social-distancing guidelines have frequently been ignored.
Nationally, the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases was 48,793, the highest since mid-August. Rural areas continue to be worst hit on the basis of per-capita cases, but towns and small cities are right behind. Metropolises look comparatively better, though cases have started to tick up from a low base in some major cities, too.
Elsewhere:
- Texas dispatched 75 nurses, respiratory specialists and other medical personnel to El Paso in response to a surge in Covid-19 cases, Governor Greg Abbott said Monday.
- New Jersey reported 662 hospitalizations, the state’s highest total since May 8. The 163 patients in intensive-care units were the most since July 12.
- Illinois reported 2,742 new Covid-19 cases Monday, pushing the seven-day average to a record that exceeded one set on May 7.
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