US Covid-19 cases set to spike again

States’ infections skyrocketing after July 4 parties

It’s taken just a week and a half for the number of coronavirus cases in the United States to double. Officials say there are now about 2,922,000 confirmed infections and packed holiday crowds are contributing to the surge.

“We are in free fall,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Most new cases in the US are among young adults. According to US health officials, they’re celebrating release from isolation by partying.

Across the nation, clubs, pubs, bars, dance halls, beaches and gyms have been re-opening. And coastal states — such as Florida — are a traditional focus of the summer break.

Last month, Governor Ron DeSantis was adamant he would reopen Florida’s tourist venues. He dismissed his state’s steady rise in Covid19 cases as being the result of increased testing. On July 4, Florida registered an unenviable record: 11,458 new cases on a single day. Since the pandemic began, the state has suffered 3731 deaths.

“We’re not going back, closing things,” DeSantis told local media.

“I mean, people going to business is not what’s driving it. I think when you see the younger folks, I think a lot of it is just more social interactions and so that’s natural.”

Across US Covid-19 hot spots, the story is the same. Breakouts are centred on gyms, churches, restaurants — and bars and clubs. Most contracting the disease are less than 30 years of age.

“We know from the data that the cases are trending younger and we have a pretty good idea that it is related to the behaviour of young folks going out to bars and house parties,” University of Florida epidemiology professor Cindy Prins said.

Texas late last month began to reimpose quarantine measures. Governor Greg Abbott ordered his bars and clubs closed less than a month after allowing them to re-open at 50 per cent capacity.

On Saturday, the Lone Star state detected 8258 new cases.

“At this time,” Abbott said, “it is clear the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars.”

The move, however, has not been popular. Texas bar owners have filed lawsuits accusing the Governor of violating the state’s constitution.

Florida is among the top five US states showing a sharp upward spike in confirmed new Covid-19 cases.

“What we’ve seen particularly over the last week is a real explosion in new cases among our younger demographics,” DeSantis admits. That should ring alarm bells. The July 4 summer holiday features high on the calendars of America’s youth.

And Florida is one of its favourite party destinations. But the state is particularly vulnerable to Covid-19: its population is older than the rest of the US because of its popularity as a retirement location.

Governor DeSantis is being accused by his political opponents of being too slow to close, and too fast to re-open, the state’s economy. And controversy surrounds his handling of the crisis.

A former Florida Department of Health data staffer Dr Rebekah Jones alleged she had been fired in May after refusing to change state Covid19 statistics. Last week, she again accused the Governor of attempted interference. A spokesperson for Governor DeSantis has denied the allegation.

“I have multiple sources at DOH who have just told me they have been instructed this week to change the numbers and begin slowly deleting deaths and cases so it looks like Florida is improving next week in the lead-up to July 4, like they’ve ‘made it over the hump’,” she tweeted.