A healthcare worker collects samples using a nasal swab at a COVID-19 mobile test facility, in Miami Beach, Florida, United States, on July 24, 2020.
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Coronavirus outbreaks in Arizona, Florida and Texas appear to be on the decline as more people practice social distancing and states halt reopening plans.
On Sunday, Arizona reported a 13% drop in the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases, registering 2,627 newly diagnosed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 3,022 the previous week, according to a CNBC analysis of data. compiled by Johns Hopkins University
The state has also begun to see signs that its Covid-19 hospitalizations may be declining, according to data collected by the Covid Monitoring Project, a group of volunteers founded by journalists from The Atlantic magazine. As of Sunday, coronavirus hospitalizations also decreased by approximately 14% from the previous week to a seven-day average of 2,919.
Cases in Texas have dropped nearly 19% in the past week, beating approximately 8,404 new cases daily based on a seven-day moving average on Sunday, according to CNBC analysis. Since its peak in the average of new daily cases on July 20 of 10,572, the number has decreased slightly. CNBC uses a seven-day average to calculate Covid-19 trends because it smooths out inconsistencies and gaps in state data.
Although Texas is showing signs that its new infections are beginning to decline, it hit a record average hospitalizations of 10,840 Covid-19 patients on Sunday. On the same day, the state also broke a grim record of new average daily deaths of 152.
Florida has just begun to see its curve begin to flatten since it hit a record daily new cases average of 11,870 on July 17, according to Johns Hopkins data. On Sunday, the state had 10,544 new cases on average, representing an 8% decrease compared to last week.
However, the state continues to report a growth in hospitalizations and deaths as the virus continues to hit densely populated cities in South Florida.
US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said Monday that officials are beginning to see a leveling of cases in the worst-affected states as people “get closer to the plate.”
“It is due to the fact that people actually wear masks. They are wearing their masks. They are social spacers. They are participating in good personal hygiene,” Azar said on “Fox and Friends.”
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, also said Monday that critical states in the Sunbelt region of the United States are beginning to stabilize in the number of new Covid-19 cases.
“Overall, it appears that Arizona, Texas and probably Florida, at the very least, are beginning to reach a plateau,” he said in “Squawk Box.” “It looks like Arizona is slowly starting to go down the epidemic curve. I think these are going to extend plateaus. I think we’re going to hang out at the level of infection that we are at right now.”
However, Gottlieb cautioned that “even as these states fall, it appears that other states are warming up and will begin to offset the gains we are making in the Solar Belt.”
For the first time since June 12, the growth rate in the daily average of new Covid-19 cases fell in the United States on Sunday compared to a week ago. Nationwide, there was an average of 65,809 daily cases of new cases on Sunday, a decrease of 1.6% from the previous week, according to a seven-day moving average.
While the number of new cases of coronavirus in the US has decreased in recent days, it does not show an accurate picture of the infection rate. State weekend reports tend to lag as some counties only post their numbers on weekdays.
Gottlieb also said that some states have not been reporting their numbers reliably since the Department of Health and Human Services ordered all hospitals to stop reporting their data to the Centers for Control National Health Safety Network. and Disease Prevention. Instead, hospitals now have to report to HHS through a new portal that went live a week ago.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and a member of Pfizer’s boards of directors, Genetic testing begins Tempus and the Illumina biotech company.
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