Coronavirus cases soar as hospitalizations rise
Fauci: US ‘still kneedeep in the first wave’
The pandemic map of the United States burned bright red Monday, with the number of new coronavirus infections during the first six days of July nearing 300,000 as more states and cities moved to reimpose shutdown orders.
After an Independence Day weekend that attracted large crowds to fireworks displays, and produced scenes of Americans drinking and partying without masks, health officials warned of hospitals running out of space and infection spreading rampantly. The United States is “still knee-deep in the first wave” of the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, said Monday
Fauci noted that while Europe managed to drive infections down — and now is dealing with little blips as it reopens — U.S. communities “never came down to baseline and now are surging back up,” he said in an interview on Twitter and Facebook with his boss, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.
Arizona and Nevada have reported their highest numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalizations in recent days. The sevenday averages in 12 states hit new highs, with the biggest increases in West Virginia, Tennessee and Montana. The country’s rolling seven-day average of daily new cases hit a record high Monday — the 28th record-setting day in a row.
In Arizona, 89% of the state’s ICU beds were full Monday morning, the state’s Department of Health announced, as the recently hard-hit state surpassed 100,000 cases.
In Miami-Dade County, authorities reversed course on reopening, issuing an emergency order that shut down gyms, party venues and restaurants, with exceptions for takeout and delivery. That order will go into effect Wednesday. Florida has seen its caseload soar past 10,000 per day and 200,000 overall.
“We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have the staffing necessary to save lives,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a Republican, said in his announcement.
Gimenez said the spike has been driven by infections among 18- to 34-year-olds who have been gathering in congested places — indoors and out — without masks or proper distancing.
“Contributing to the positives in that age group, the doctors have told me, were graduation parties, gatherings at restaurants that turned into packed parties in violation of the rules, and street protests where people could not maintain social distancing and where not everyone was wearing facial coverings,” Gimenez said.
Despite the steep new rise in infections, the House and Senate have adjourned for a two-week recess, setting up a potential battle when they return over another pandemic relief package.
And more politicians continue to contract the virus. In Mississippi, where cases are rising, several lawmakers have tested positive, including the speaker of the State House of Representatives. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves wrote on Twitter he was “briefly in contact” with one of them, so he plans to isolate himself until he gets his own test results back. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, tweeted Monday evening that “COVID-19 has literally hit home. I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive.”
The United States has reported 2.9 million coronavirus cases to date and at least 127,000 people have died from the virus nationwide. The United States has had more than twice as many reported deaths as any other country and accounts for nearly a quarter of all deaths attributed to the virus worldwide.
Some states imposed fresh restrictions Monday in an attempt to tamp down rising case numbers and preserve hospital capacity.
Trump has played down the rise in cases, attributing it to expanded testing, and has recently emphasized that U.S. deaths have not spiked with new cases.
Fauci and Collins ended their 30 minute session on Monday with something of a pep talk.”We will get through this,” Fauci said. “We have already suffered through a lot of pain, a lot of economic and personal pain and inconvenience.” He said “science will get us through this” by delivering drugs for early- and late-stage COVID-19.
“Hang in there, it will end,” he said. “We promise you.”