U.S. COVID-19 cases top 6 million


On Sunday, the number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed six million.
Nationwide, new daily cases have been going down since the end of July, and over the last few weeks, there has also been a decrease in the number of people getting tested for coronavirus. There are hot spots emerging in the Midwest, Reuters reports, with Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota recently reporting record one-day increases in new cases and Montana and Idaho reporting record numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Data shows that in Iowa, many new cases are in counties that are home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, Reuters reports; these schools are holding some in-person classes. In South Dakota, the state health department said 88 cases have been traced to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that was held in mid-August, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people.
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There are more than 25 million confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide, with the United States accounting for nearly a quarter of those infections. The U.S. is ranked tenth based on cases per capita, Reuters reports, with Brazil, Peru, and Chile among the countries with higher rates of infection. As of Sunday, almost 183,000 Americans have died of COVID-19.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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