By Chris Canipe and Lisa Shumaker
July 6 (Reuters) – The United States experienced a 27% increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the week ending July 5 compared to the previous seven days, with 24 states reporting positive test rates above the level that the World Health Organization has marked as worrying.
Nationwide, 7.5% of diagnostic tests returned positive results last week, compared to 7% the previous week and 5% two weeks ago, according to a Reuters analysis of The COVID data. Tracking Project, an effort made by volunteers to track the outbreak.
The WHO considers a positivity rate above 5% to be cause for concern because it suggests that there are more cases in the community that have not yet been discovered.
Arizona’s positivity test rate was 26%, up from 24% last week; Florida rose to 19% from 16%, and Mississippi was 17%, up from 13%, according to the analysis.
(Open https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser for a Reuters interactive)
Testing increased 7.5% last week and set a new record with more than 721,000 tests conducted on July 3.
Deaths, which health experts say is a lagging indicator, continued to drop nationally to 3,447 people in the week ending July 5. However, a handful of states have reported increases in deaths for at least two weeks in a row, including Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Nationwide, new cases of COVID-19 have increased every week for five consecutive weeks. Thirty-three states, primarily in the west and south, reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, according to the analysis.
Many states have temporarily halted the reopening of their economies or ordered the closure of some companies. California, Kansas, Oregon, and West Virginia have become the last to require wearing masks in public, but at least 30 states, including Florida, do not have a state mandate.
Cases continue to decline in the Northeast weekly, but some Midwest states are experiencing increases again, including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
New Hampshire, where President Donald Trump plans an outdoor rally on Saturday, posted a nearly 30% drop in new infections to 140 last week, the highest percentage drop in the nation, according to the analysis.
(Report by Chris Canipe in Kansas City, Missouri, and Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Tiffany Wu edition)
