Tuesday (June 30) saw the highest single-day number of new coronavirus cases – over 48,000 positive tests have been reported, according to The New York Times – with Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas also announcing single-day highs.
It’s the fourth time in seven days that the U.S. has broken its own record for the highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day, and 45 states have also reported a higher seven-day average of new cases compared to last week.
There has been debate whether the spike in the number of coronavirus cases is a reflection of the increased number of testing being done. However, according to JHU’s data, the rate of positive test results has increased daily since June 16. Hospitals have also reported a steep increase in number of coronavirus patients being hospitalized.
COVID-19 hotspots have begun to emerge again in states that have previously reported improvements in the number of new coronavirus cases like Kansas, Detroit, and Wisconsin. States whose case numbers have mostly remained flat are also seeing the beginnings of surge in new coronavirus cases, including Illinois and Minnesota.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warns that numbers could more than double if the outbreaks aren’t controlled.
“I can’t make an accurate prediction, but it is going to be very disturbing, I will guarantee you that,” Dr. Fauci told a Senate committee on Tuesday (June 30), “because when you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they are doing well, they are vulnerable.”
“I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day,” Dr. Fauci said.
Harvard Global Health Institute director Ashish K. Jha urged the public to take more precautions to curtail the spread of the virus.
“I just think we can’t dither around on masks,” he said on Wednesday’s (July 1) episode of Good Morning America. “Everyone needs to be wearing one when they’re outside of their home.”
He also advises against indoor gatherings at restaurants, bars and nightclubs and for testing and contact tracing to be increased, adding that stay-at-home orders should be considered if all other measures fail.
“If we can do all of that, we can avoid the fate that Dr. Fauci mentioned,” he said.
Others are also raising concerns about the possibility of crowds coming out for the 4th of July weekend.
“We’re going to see several hundred thousand people come down here regardless of the recommendations that have come out,” Peter Davis, Galveston Island Beach Patrol Chief, told the Houston-based news station KHOU this week.
To date, over 2.6 million coronavirus cases in have been detected in the U.S. While more than 720,000 have recovered from the virus, the illness has caused over 120,000 deaths. (source: John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center).
