The epicenter of the US coronavirus shifts to the midwestern states

WASHINGTON / NEW YORK (Reuters) – The epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States showed signs of moving to the Midwest on Thursday, as Sunbelt states hoped that new infections and deaths would begin to decline.

The COVID-19 outbreak was spreading to Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska “due to vacation and other travel reasons,” Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the task force, told Fox News in an interview. about White House coronavirus. .

The Ohio Health Department said the state had seen its largest single-day increase in infections since the pandemic began in January, which Republican Governor Mike DeWine said at a press conference that “it certainly is not a good News”.

In Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers ordered residents to cover their faces in public. Many health experts recommend masks, but some conservatives say such mandates violate the United States Constitution.

“While I know that emotions are high when it comes to covering your face in public, my job as governor is to put people first and do what’s best for the people of our state, so that’s what I’m going to do.” Evers said. A Democrat said in a statement.

Florida reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths for the third consecutive day on Thursday, and Arizona also reported a record increase in single-day deaths, according to a Reuters count. But reports of new cases have slowed down recently in both states, along with California and Texas.

According to the NurseFly platform for temporary healthcare personnel, the demand for nurses in Arizona increased 75% in July compared to June.

(Chart: Tracking the New Coronavirus in the US, Here)

“NO JOB, NO HOME”

“I am trying to maintain a healthy level of anxiety,” said Rachel Norton, an intensive care unit nurse who was traveling and leaving Denver on Thursday for a one-month contract in Mesa, Arizona.

The surge has slowed the nation’s recovery from an economic crisis triggered by state and local shutdown orders that have left millions of Americans without jobs, closed schools and closed entertainment and professional sporting events. The United States remains the country most affected by the COVID -19 outbreak, with a death toll of more than 150,000.

Smoking in front of a Chicago food bank, William Hannah, 63, said the pandemic “has ruined me. Now I’m out of a job, homeless and waiting for my job to come back. ”

Hannah worked as a cook at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, before the NBA and NHL canceled the games and the artists interrupted the events. “I have hope. It is all I can do, ”she said.

On Thursday, Commerce Department data for the second quarter showed the deepest contraction in the U.S. economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Herman Cain, a former Republican presidential candidate, became the latest high-profile death attributed to COVID-19 on Thursday.

Cain was diagnosed with the disease in late June after attending a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for President Donald Trump, where many attendees crowded in without wearing face masks. Cain tweeted a photo of himself at the event without a mask.

The U.S. outbreak initially focused on the northeast region of New York, which still has by far the highest death toll of any state, at more than 32,000.

On Thursday, Mark Levine, chairman of the New York City Council’s health committee, said cases were on the rise again in the northeastern states, specifically New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

“Now, for the first time since spring, cases are increasing again in all three,” Levine wrote in a series of tweets. “New York is now an island within an island, with warning signs looming all over the place.”

(Chart: where coronavirus cases are on the rise in the United States, here)