FILE PHOTO: An overview of South Beach as beaches reopen with restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, June 10 2020. REUTERS / Marco Bello
(Reuters) – Florida broke records on Thursday when it reported more than 10,000 new cases of coronavirus, the largest one-day increase in the state since the pandemic began, according to a Reuters count.
The outbreaks in Texas, California, Florida and Arizona have helped the United States break records and send cases that have increased at rates not seen since April.
In June, Florida infections increased by 168% or more than 95,000 new cases. The percentage of tests that tested positive shot up to 15% from 4% at the end of May.
Florida, with 21 million residents, has reported more new daily coronavirus cases than any European country had at the height of its outbreaks.
To contain the outbreak, Florida has closed bars and some beaches, but the governor has resisted demanding statewide masks in public or reimposing a blockade.
Just one other state has reported more than 10,000 new cases in a single day. New York registered 12,847 new infections on April 10, three weeks after the state implemented a strict shutdown that closed most companies. While the state has relaxed many measures, it requires masks in public and requires that anyone arriving from 16 other highly infected US states be quarantined for two weeks. [nL1N2E71C4]
Once it was the epicenter of the US epidemic, New York experienced a 6% increase in June, the lowest rate in the entire country. [nL1N2E734O]
(Open tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR and tmsnrt.rs/3dM9TLE in an external browser for Reuters interactive)
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