Cases, deaths break records in states
Cities acquire storage coolers for future surge
HOUSTON — The spread of the coronavirus surged unabated in hot spots around the U.S. on Thursday, with one city in South Carolina urging people to pray it into submission, a hospital in Texas bringing in military medical personnel and funeral morgues running out of space in Phoenix.
Record numbers of cases and deaths were popping up throughout the country. Texas reported 129 new deaths Thursday, and a third of the more than 3,400 COVID-19 fatalities registered there since the pandemic began were reported in the first two weeks of July alone. Health officials also reported more than 10,000 confirmed new cases for the third straight day.
In South Carolina, the state reported a record 69 deaths from COVID-19, more than double than any other day. In Louisiana, that state had thought it had contained the virus earlier this year only to again see a resurgence of cases, averaging more than 2,000 new confirmed infections a day over the past week.
Florida reached another ominous record with 156 virus deaths reported Thursday as the state continued to experience a swift rise in cases. The state Department of Health reported 13,965 new coronavirus cases.
And while a number of governors had decided to mandate the wearing of masks in public places, including Arkansas’ Republican governor, mayors in some Georgia cities were balking at a directive from that state’s governor forbidding cities and counties from requiring face coverings.
The county medical examiner’s office in metro Phoenix has already gotten four large portable storage coolers to handle future surges of coronavirus deaths and has ordered another 10 coolers.
The rising numbers in Texas are hitting big cities like Houston as well as smaller communities along the Mexico border. This month, Hidalgo County, about 220 miles south of
San Antonio and right on the border, has reported more deaths than Houston’s Harris County.
Health officials in San Antonio have acquired two refrigerated trailers and expect to have three more by the end of the week to store the dead.
Two hundred miles to the east, soldiers prepared to take over a wing of a Houston hospital to treat COVID-19 patients. An 86-person Army team of doctors, nurses, and support staff was setting up a nursing station at United Memorial Medical Center and pairing up with hospital staff to see patients. They expect to begin treating up to approximately 40 patients in the coming days.
In other developments:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday compared President Donald Trump to “the man who refuses to ask for directions.” She urged Trump to invoke the full power of the Defense Production Act to boost supplies for coronavirus testing and treatment.
USA Today said that a column that the newspaper solicited and published from presidential trade adviser Peter Navarro criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci was misleading and did not meet fact-checking standards.
Federal health officials are extending the U.S. ban on cruise ships through the end of September as coronavirus infections rise in most U.S. states, including Florida. A no-sail order had been scheduled to expire July 24.