New projections see 200,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths by October, as cases rise sharply in South, West

Bar in Houston
(Image credit: Mark Felix/AFP /AFP/Getty Images)

Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in 27 states, and 10 of them — Texas, Florida, California, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Nevada — hit new high marks for hospitalizations on Sunday, The Washington Post reports. Texas hit its fourth consecutive day of record hospitalization numbers on Monday, 2,326 patients, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. Every state has allowed stores, restaurants, and other public place to open to at least some extent, and coronavirus cases have risen in response, especially in the South and West.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation on Monday raised its influential coronavirus projections to 201,129 COVID-19 deaths by Oct. 1, a jump of 21,239 fatalities from its June 10 projections. Florida is projected to lose 18,675 people to the virus by October, up from 6,559 deaths a few days ago. Arizona and California also saw unhealthy rises in predicted mortality. Governors in some new hot spots, like Florida and Texas, attribute the rise in cases to more testing, as Vice President Mike Pence advises, but public health experts say the main cause of the rising infection and hospitalization numbers is that the virus is spreading.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.