US Covid-19 deaths cross 130,000 after record surge in cases

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has forecast between 140,000 to 160,000 coronavirus deaths by July 25 in projections that are based on 24 independent forecasts...

THE number of US coronavirus deaths exceeded 130,000 on Monday (6), following a surge of new cases that has put President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis under the microscope and derailed efforts to restart the economy.

The overall rate of increase in US deaths has been on a downward trend despite case numbers surging to record levels in recent days, but health experts warn fatalities are a lagging indicator, showing up weeks or even months after cases rise.

Nationally, cases are approaching three million, the highest tally in the world and double the infections reported in the second most-affected country Brazil. Case numbers are rising in 39 US states, according to a Reuters analysis.

Sixteen states have posted new record daily case counts this month. Florida confirmed a record high 11,000 in a single day, more than any European country reported in a single day at the height of the crisis there.

As health experts cautioned the public not to gather in crowds to celebrate Independence Day over the weekend, US president Donald Trump asserted without providing evidence that 99 per cent of US coronavirus cases were “totally harmless.”

At least five states have already bucked the downward trend in the national death rate, a Reuters analysis showed. Arizona had 449 deaths in the last two weeks of June, up from 259 deaths in the first two weeks of the month. The state posted a 300 per cent rise in cases over the full month, the most in the country.

Steve Adler, the Democratic mayor of Austin, Texas, on Monday criticized the Republican Trump’s comment over the weekend that the virus was mostly harmless.

‘It’s incredibly disruptive and the messaging coming from the president of the US is dangerous,’ Adler told CNN. ‘One of the biggest

challenges we have is the messaging coming out of Washington that would suggest that masks don’t work or it’s not necessary, or that the virus is going away on its own.’

Soaring case numbers and packed hospitals in Texas have prompted some mayors and other local leaders to consider launching a new round of stay-athome orders. Cities are getting together and lobbying the state’s governor to restore the authority to impose local anti-coronavirus measures, Adler said.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Monday defended Trump’s comment over the weekend, saying the president was not trying to play down the deaths.

‘But it’s really to look statistically to know that whatever risks that you may have or I may have, or my, my children or my grandchildren may have, let’s look at that appropriately and I think that’s what he’s trying to do,’ he told reporters outside the White House.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has forecast between 140,000 to 160,000 coronavirus deaths by July 25 in projections that are based on 24 independent forecasts.

The US services sector grew in June after the coronavirus pandemic caused its steepest-ever contraction the month prior, an industry survey said on Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing index was at 57.1 percent in June, well above expectations and an increase of 11.7 percentage points from May the biggest one-month jump ever.

Anything above 50 per cent indicates expansion in the sector crucial to the world’s largest economy.

The index’s reading of 45.4 per cent in May was down 10.7 per cent from the month prior and part of a two-month stretch of contraction as the pandemic forced businesses closed nationwide, but the latest June data indicates activity has resumed, at least tentatively, even if the virus remains a threat.

‘Respondents remain concerned about the coronavirus and the more recent civil unrest; however, they are cautiously optimistic about business conditions and the economy as businesses are beginning to reopen,’ the survey’s chair Anthony Nieves said in a statement.

New orders were up nearly 20 points at 61.6 per cent, business activity was up a quarter to 66 per cent while employment jumped 11.3 points to 43.1 per cent, though that indicator remained in contraction.

ISM’s supplier deliveries index decreased to 57.5 per cent. The index is inversed, meaning a number above 50 indicates slower deliveries, and Nieves said the index in June ‘now more closely correlates to current supply and demand.’

Of the 17 industries surveyed, only three did not report growth in June, according to ISM. Many survey respondents cited moves to ease the business lockdowns as beneficial, but noted things are not back to normal yet.

‘Let’s not get too complacent, (as) Covid-19 is still a pandemic, (and) a vaccine has not been developed,’ an accommodation and food services business told ISM.

However with the US recording nearly 40,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Sunday, the pandemic remains out of control and Oxford Economics warned it will hamper the sector’s recovery in the second half of the year.

‘The concerning trajectory of the virus in recent weeks will be the key impediment constraining the recovery as many states have now paused or rolled back their reopening plans due to a spike in cases,’ Oxford said in a note.

Meanwhile, The World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing a report that suggested its advice on the novel coronavirus needs updating, after some scientists told the New York Times there was evidence the virus could be spread by tiny particles in the air.

The WHO says the Covid-19 disease spreads primarily through small droplets, which are expelled from the nose and mouth when an infected person breaths them out in coughs, sneezes, speech or laughter and quickly sink to the ground.

In an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined the evidence they say shows that smaller exhaled particles can infect people who inhale them, the newspaper said last week.