New Zealand may have defeated coronavirus, but in the U.S., things may be getting worse.
Several states have reported upticks in coronavirus cases after letting businesses reopen, and amid widespread protests against police brutality in the U.S. It's leading the U.S. into a case count plateau, while other countries have seen major case drops and even total eradication.
On Monday, Virginia reported 1,284 new coronavirus cases in the past week, up from 863 the week before. Meanwhile neighboring Maryland reported 491 new cases in the first week of June, a drop from the 712 it saw the week before. Those numbers came as most of Maryland and Virginia entered their second phases of reopening, WAMU reports.
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Kentucky meanwhile reported 319 coronavirus cases over the weekend, among the higher numbers it has seen in several weeks. North and South Carolina have both seen a 60 percent increase in case counts over the past two weeks, while Tennessee has seen a 75 percent uptick in the past two weeks, NPR reports. The Texas Medical Center in Houston has reported a 16 percent rise in ICU admissions of coronavirus patients. And in Florida, the CDC is attributing a boom in pneumonia deaths to COVID-19.
NPR does warn it's hard to compare even neighboring states' coronavirus count due to variations in testing and reporting, and cautions that it's too soon to attribute COVID-19 upticks to widespread protests.
