The number of new single-day coronavirus infections in the U.S. is near record highs as the government revealed more than 20 million people in the U.S. could have contracted the virus.
U.S. states reported 38,115 new cases on Wednesday, according to the Washington Post, the highest one-day total since the outbreak began in December.
Johns Hopkins University recorded 34,300 cases Wednesday, shy of its reported record high of 36,400 on April 24.
Harvard Global Health Institute director Ashish Jha said in an interview Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show that the recent increase in U.S. infections was due to the premature reopening of the country’s economy while lacking appropriate safety procedures.
A volunteer with The Concilio helps prepare bags of food being distributed at a 2020 U.S. Census event in Dallas, June 25, 2020. Due to COVID-19, the Census self-respond date - online, by phone or mail - has been extended to Oct. 31.
Meanwhile, senior U.S. administration officials told a small group of reporters Wednesday evening that 20 million people in America, about 6% of the country’s population, could have been infected with COVID-19, 10 times greater than the official count.
The officials said the estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on a scientific examination of blood serum to determine the presence of antibodies. If the estimate is accurate, the figure suggests the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus is greater than the world-leading 122,100 deaths that Hopkins is reporting.
The U.S. has greatly increased testing over the past few months, presumably leading to the discovery of many less-serious cases that may have gone undetected earlier in the outbreak, when testing priority was given to people who were more seriously ill.
In an encouraging sign, the number of single-day deaths in the U.S. declined last week, but the reduction was not commensurate to new cases.
Physician assistant Nicole Kramer prepares to collect a nasal swab sample from a patient for COVID-19 testing at Xpress Urgent Care, June 25, 2020, in Tustin, Calif.
Several U.S. states, mostly southern and western states, reported their highest number of coronavirus hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic in March, including Texas, which recorded over 5,000 total new cases, including over 4,000 hospitalizations, and California, which posted a staggering 7,000 total new cases.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot said Thursday that the state would delay reopening plans to contain surges of new infections. He signed an executive order suspending elective surgeries at hospitals in four counties to guarantee adequate space for coronavirus patients.
The northeastern U.S. state of New York, which bore the initial brunt of the novel coronavirus pandemic, is requiring visitors from eight states to enter into a two-week quarantine period.
The order announced Wednesday by New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo applies to residents of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, all of which have reported a rising number of new cases in recent weeks. Cuomo was joined by video conference by fellow Democrats Ned Lamont and Phil Murphy, governors of the neighboring states of Connecticut and New Jersey, which are duplicating New York’s quarantine requirements.
As the virus spikes again in the U.S. and other areas around the world, some governments imposed new restrictions only weeks after lifting shutdowns, even as other areas relaxed them.
In this photo taken June 24, 2020, a woman wearing a face mask walks past workers washing the street in Lisbon's old center.
Portugal announced Thursday that residents in several parts of Greater Lisbon will have to start staying at home again next week as authorities grapple with a surge in coronavirus cases on the city's outskirts.
The World Health Organization warned Thursday there has been a weekly spike in cases in 11 European countries for the first time in months.
Latin America has emerged as the world’s newest epicenter for COVID-19 with the regional death toll surpassing 100,000 with more than half, 54,000, in Brazil.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the number of coronavirus cases throughout the world could reach 10 million next week, a sharp increase from the 9.3 million cases, including over 482,000 deaths, currently reported.