Officials in Texas, Fla. blame virus spikes on reopenings

Officials in states with surging coronavirus cases issued dire warnings Sunday about the spread of infections, blaming outbreaks in their communities on early reopenings and saying the virus was rapidly outpacing containment efforts.

“We don’t have room to experiment, we don’t have room for incrementalism when we’re seeing these kinds of numbers,” said Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat who is the top elected official in Harris County, Texas, which encompasses the sprawling Houston metro area. “Nor should we wait for all the hospital beds to fill and all these people to die before we take drastic action.”

The rolling seven-day average for daily new cases in the United States reached a record high for the 27th day in a row, climbing to 48,606 on Sunday, according to The Washington Post’s tracking. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations rose to their highest levels to date in Arizona and Nevada.

The country’s seven-day average of new deaths fell to 486, down from 562 a week prior, but health experts cautioned that the count of infections would soon drive the number back up.

New cases in Florida on Sunday exceeded 10,000 in a day for the third time in the past week, after the state posted a record high of 11,458 the previous day. The new infections pushed the state’s total caseload past 200,000, a mark passed by two other states: New York and California.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said it was “too early to tell” whether the Republican National Convention could be held safely in Jacksonville, Fla., next month.

“We’ll have to see how this unfolds in Florida and elsewhere around the country,” he told CNN.

Frustration about the pandemic response has mounted among local leaders, who say they have had to grapple with conflicting orders and frequently changing guidelines from governors and the White House as they try to curb sharply rising infections.

After Texas reported another single-day record for new cases over the weekend, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, a Democrat, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that there won’t be enough medical personnel to keep up with the spike in cases if the rate of increase continued unabated in his city.

“If we don’t change this trajectory, then I am within two weeks of having our hospitals overrun,” he said, adding that intensive care units in the city could be overflowing within 10 days. Mr. Adler said he was not sure that Texas needed a statewide shelter-in-place order but that he wanted the authority to impose one locally if needed.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, echoed Mr. Adler’s concerns. The hospitals in his city face staffing shortages as demand for ICU beds increases exponentially, he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“In fact, if we don’t get our hands around this virus quickly, in about two weeks, our hospital system could be in serious, serious trouble,” he said.

Demand for testing has also outpaced the city’s capacity, Mr. Turner said, and the positive test rate has soared from 10% a month ago to 25% recently.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Judge Hidalgo said she had been stripped of authority to issue stay-at-home orders in Harris County after Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, decided to move forward with an aggressive reopening plan in the spring. All she could do was issue “recommendations,” which were nowhere near as effective, she said.

“As long as we’re doing as little as possible and hoping for the best, we’re always going to be chasing this thing, we’re always going to be behind, and the virus will always outrun us,” Judge Hidalgo said. “And so what we need right now is to do what works, which is a stay-home order.”

In Florida, which also reported a record caseload Saturday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said it was “clear that the growth is exponential at this point.”

“There’s no doubt that when we reopened, people started socializing as if the virus didn’t exist,” the Republican mayor told ABC News. “It’s extremely worrisome.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, attributed soaring case numbers in Arizona to the state’s decision to resume business as usual before the virus was under control. She noted that young people who ignored health guidelines had probably led the explosion in cases.

Ms. Gallego told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that Arizona went from “zero to 60” by being one of the first states to reopen after it was among the last to implement stay-at-home orders.

She faulted mixed public messaging after President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Phoenix. Ms. Gallego said that while she was urging people to stay at home and avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, Mr. Trump undercut that by holding large events and not wearing a mask.

Ms. Gallego also said federal officials had dismissed her requests to conduct community-based testing in the area after people reported waiting in line for six to eight hours at some testing sites.

“We were told they’re moving away from that,” she said, “which feels like they are declaring victory while we’re still in crisis mode.”