Arizona, California and Texas on Tuesday reported new record daily coronavirus cases as case counts continue to rise in more than half of the US states. USA
President Donald Trump blamed the increased evidence for the increase. But infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told House lawmakers Tuesday that in states where there is an increase in the percentage of people who test positive, it is a clear “indication that there are additional infections that they are responsible for those increases. ”
Fauci said the “disturbing increase in infections” was due to a combination of factors, including an increase in person-to-person transmission or the spread of the community.
📈Statistics today in the coronavirus: Global infections have exceeded 9.2 million, with 2.3 million in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 477,000 people have died worldwide, with more than 121,000 deaths in the US. USA
Here are the most significant developments of the day:
- Australia, Germany, Portugal and South Korea, among other countries, are struggling to respond to resurgent outbreaks, the Washington Post reports.
- The head of the United Nations told the Associated Press on Tuesday that countries acting in isolation are worsening the coronavirus pandemic. “There is a total lack of coordination between countries in the response to COVID,” said Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
- Major League Baseball is implementing a 60-game 2020 season and has reached an agreement with players on health and safety protocols, such as banning fans from the stands.
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Fauci: no further block is necessary despite increasing cases of COVID-19
At the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress that states may not need to return to an “outright shutdown,” despite a worrying increase in states like Texas, Arizona and Florida. However, he said state officials should consider pausing or reversing part of the reopening plan if they are seeing a sudden increase in cases or hospitalizations.
“If someone goes from the catwalk to phase one to phase two and gets into trouble in phase two, they may have to go back to phase one,” Fauci said.
The country’s leading infectious disease expert also said he had never been given a directive to “delay testing,” despite President Donald Trump’s claim that he had asked officials to do so. Trump attributed the increase in cases to more tests, although health authorities have said the increasing number of hospitalizations and cases is due to more than just an increase in tests.
“When you have all that evidence, you have more cases,” said the president.
He added: “Then they will say: ‘We have more cases.’ We want to do tests. We want to do everything. But they use it to make us look bad.”
Texas reaches all-time high for COVID-19 cases
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told residents to stay home Tuesday as the state hits a record high for COVID-19 cases. “The hospitalization rate is at its highest point. Coronavirus is spreading in Brazos County and throughout the state of Texas, which is why action is being taken, “Abbott said in an interview on KBTX.
A look at some recent records:
- Hours after Abbott’s statement, state health officials reported a record 5,489 new COVID-19 cases.
- The state also broke its record for hospitalizations for the 12th consecutive day, and the State Department of Health Services reported 4,092 patients with COVID-19 in Texas hospitals.
- The percentage of tests showing positive results has also continued to increase. According to state health officials, the state’s seven-day moving average positive rate reached nearly 10% on Monday. Public health experts say that number should ideally be kept below 6%, and Abbott previously said that a positivity rate above 10% would be cause for alarm.
“If we cannot contain the spiral expansion of COVID-19, more requirements will be imposed on companies, even taking into account the need to reduce the expansion of business openings in Texas,” he said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission cracked down on establishments that defied state guidelines and suspended the alcohol license of a dozen bars for failing to follow coronavirus protocols after covert inspections over the weekend.
The guidelines include an indoor customer capacity of 50% for bars and 75% for restaurants, along with social distancing of at least 6 feet between groups of customers, according to a TABC press release. Masks were not mentioned.
Europe may ban American travelers from reopening
Americans are unlikely to be able to enter Europe when the continent reopens its borders next week, due to how the coronavirus pandemic is raging in the US. USA And President Donald Trump’s ban on Europeans entering the United States.
European nations appear on track to reopen their borders with each other before July 1, and their representatives in Brussels are now debating what virus-related criteria should apply when lifting the border restrictions on the outside world that were imposed in March.
In recommendations to EU nations on June 11, the European Commission said that “travel restrictions should not be lifted with respect to third countries where the situation is worse” than the average in the 27 most EU member countries Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
That is likely to rule out the United States, where new coronavirus infections have risen to the highest level in two months, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. After a downward trend for more than a month, new cases in the US. USA They have increased for over a week.
The United States reported 34,700 new cases of the virus Tuesday, totaling more than 2.3 million and more than 121,000 dead, the most anywhere in the world. Virus outbreaks in Brazil, India and Russia are also remarkably high, and the EU is also unlikely to let its citizens in.
– Associated Press
What we are reading
- As universities reopen, there is a new risk: The plumbing has been as unused as the buildings themselves, creating health risks for returning students and employees.
- Uh oh … People are cooking microwaves in books and masks from the library to kill COVID-19.
- A plant audience? The Barcelona opera reopened and performed its first concert since the coronavirus closed to a live audience.
