Coronavirus cases are climbing in 20 states, with 10 states reporting single-day records in the past week
At least 10 states reported new single-day records for coronavirus cases since last Friday, a trend that experts warn is due to the rapid spread of the virus, not merely increased testing. Most worryingly, Oklahoma reported a record-high 450 cases on Thursday, just two days before President Trump is set to hold a rally in the 20,000-person BOK Center in Tulsa, where masks are not required.
In addition to Oklahoma, the states of Nevada, Florida, California, South Carolina, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Arizona all experienced record-highs between last Friday and Thursday this week. Arizona in particular is alarming, as, per capita, it has now "surpassed Lombardi, Italy," according to Harvard University epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding. Ventilated COVID-19 patients have reportedly quadrupled in the state since its stay-at-home order ended on May 15, and the state is apparently dangerously close to running out of hospital beds, The Daily Beast reports.
Overall, coronavirus cases are climbing in 20 states, and decreasing in 20 states plus Washington, D.C., The New York Times reports. Cases have remained mostly the same in 10 states. This week, the University of Washington revised its forecast to project more than 200,000 American deaths from COVID-19 by October 1.
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"It really does feel like the U.S. has given up," Siouxsie Wiles, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, told The Washington Post in an interview published Friday.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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