Across the United States, more than 36,000 new infections were reported by state health departments today — surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25. Texas, Florida and California led the way, with all three states reporting more than 5,000 new cases apiece.
Even as case numbers climb, reports circulated that the federal government is poised to stop providing federal aid to testing sites in some hard-hit states, including Texas, prompting a top federal official to respond that testing was on the rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 709 points, or 2.7 percent, as investors grappled with a spike in covid-19 infections in several states, fueling concerns that an already drawn-out economic recovery will be delayed further.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has recorded more than 2.3 million coronavirus cases and at least 119,000 deaths, while the global number of cases has soared past 9 million.
As the United States continues to reopen its economy, case numbers are rising in more than 20 states, mostly in the South and West. Florida on Wednesday reported a new daily high of 5,508 cases.
Texas reported more than 5,000 cases on Tuesday, its largest single-day total yet.
Arizona added more than 3,600 cases, also a record.
In Washington State, where case numbers are again trending upward, the governor said residents would have to start wearing masks in public.
“This is about saving lives,” said Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat. “It’s about reopening our businesses. And it’s about showing respect and care for one another.”
In Florida today, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no indication that the state would roll back its economic opening, but he urged residents to avoid closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowds and close contact with others.
DeSantis, a Republican, continued to attribute the rising infections to younger people, especially in cities, who have started to socialize in bars and homes, in spite of rules in many municipalities prohibiting group gatherings.
He pressed older people to keep staying home as much as possible, and pleaded with young people to be responsible.
“You need to do your part and make sure that you’re not spreading it to people who are going to be more at risk for this,” he said.
The elevated case numbers are a result of worsening conditions across much of the country as well as increased testing, but testing alone does not explain the surge.
The percentage of people in Florida testing positive has risen sharply. Increases in hospitalizations also signal the virus’s spread.
Arizona reported on Monday its highest number of virus hospitalizations, as did North Carolina on Tuesday, prompting its governor, Roy Cooper, to announce today that the state would pause reopening for three weeks and require face masks.
In Texas, more than 4,000 people with the virus are hospitalized, more than double the number at the beginning of June.
“I strongly feel we are moving in the wrong direction and we are moving fast,” Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston said.
But in Missouri, where new case reports have reached their highest levels in recent days, coronavirus hospitalizations have declined slightly over the last month.
“We are NOT overwhelmed,” Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, said on Twitter, linking the uptick to more testing. “We are NOT currently experiencing a second wave. We have NO intentions of closing Missouri back down at this point in time.”
The World Health Organization warned today that if governments and communities in the Americas are not able to stop the spread of the virus through surveillance, isolation of cases and quarantine of contacts, there may be a need to impose — or reimpose — general lockdowns.
“It is very difficult to take the sting out of this pandemic unless we are able to successfully isolate cases and quarantine contacts,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, the executive director of the W.H.O. health emergencies program. “In the absence of a capacity to do that, then the specter of further lockdowns cannot be excluded.”
He said that the growing number of coronavirus cases in the Americas has not peaked and the region is likely to see sustained number of cases and deaths in the coming weeks.