(Reuters) – Rising cases of coronavirus in 39 US states overshadow the nation’s 4th of July celebrations, as health experts fear the holidays will trigger a spike in infections that could overwhelm hospitals .
After towns and cities across the country canceled annual fireworks shows to keep large crowds from gathering, many Americans launched rockets and Roman candles from the streets and backyards to mark Independence Day.
In the first four days of July alone, 15 states reported record increases in new cases of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 3 million Americans and killed about 130,000, according to a Reuters count.
Florida cases have increased by more than 10,000 over three of the past four days, including an escalation of 10,059 on Sunday, beating the highest daily figure reported by any European country during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak there. Cases are also on the rise in Arizona, California, and Texas, and tend to increase in states in the Midwest that once had declining infections, such as Iowa, Ohio, and Michigan, according to a Reuters analysis of how much cases have increased in recent years. two weeks compared to the previous two weeks. .
In Phoenix, Arizona, people gathered on Saturday without masks or social distancing to listen to a speaker at a rally against restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. Many in the crowd wore red, white, and blue, and some had signs that read: “Capitalism makes sense. Socialism does not. Go Trump 2020. ”
“We open too early in Arizona,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego on ABC. She said the city was in a “test-related crisis,” with people waiting in eight-hour lines in their cars to find out if they were infected.
During an Independence Day speech at the White House on Saturday, United States President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States were “completely harmless.”
In Texas alone, the number of currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients rose to a record 7,890 on Saturday compared to 3,247 just two weeks ago. The Democrat mayor of Austin, Texas, warned during an interview with CNN that his city’s hospitals could reach capacity in two weeks and run out of beds in the intensive care unit (ICU) in 10 days. In Arizona, about 90% of ICU beds are full.
‘NO ROOM TO EXPERIENCE’
Trump, a Republican, has refused to wear a mask in public and has been reluctant to encourage Americans to do so, saying it was a personal choice. A July 4 celebration he attended on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota was “optional with a mask” and had no social distance.
Mixed messages from governments have been a big factor in people failing to follow coronavirus mitigation recommendations in Miami Beach, said Democratic Mayor Dan Gelber.
Miami Beach coronavirus hospitalizations have doubled in the past 14 days and hospitals now have 158 people with fans, compared to 64 two weeks ago, he told CNN.
“We are spreading it because of this incredible activity, and many people are obviously not taking all these social distance warnings to wear masks seriously,” he said.
In addition to the growing cases, an alarming percentage of tests is testing positive. The World Health Organization believes that a positivity rate of more than 5% is cause for concern because it suggests that there are more cases in the community that have not yet been discovered.
Ten states averaged double-digit positivity rates over the past week: Arizona (26%), Florida (18%), South Carolina (17%), Nevada (14%), Alabama (14%), Texas (14% ), Mississippi (13%), Georgia (13%), Idaho (11%), and Kansas (10%), according to The COVID Tracking Project here, a voluntary effort to track the outbreak.
Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, a heavily affected county in Texas that includes Houston, said officials must be proactive in getting ahead of the virus and advocated for a stay-at-home order. “We have no space to experiment. We don’t have room for incrementalism when we see these kinds of numbers, ”he told ABC.
Doina Chiacu’s report in Washington; Written by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Daniel Wallis
.
