Wednesday’s total dwarfs the previous high of new cases reached on June 26, when 45,255 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the U.S.
There have been more than 2,685,000 coronavirus cases in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 128,000 people have died.
At least five states – Arizona, California, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas – had a record high of new case reports on Wednesday.
California, the most populous state, reported 9,740 new cases. That number included 5,898 cases reported to the state in the past 24 hours and 3,842 previously unreported cases over a five-day period, said Ali Bay, a spokeswoman for the state’s joint information center.
The increase occurs when many states are pausing to reopen or revoking some restrictions.
More than 28 million Californians live in counties where dining rooms at restaurants, bars, and other indoor facilities are told to remain closed or closed, as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to worry state officials.
The closings affect 19 counties representing 72% of the state’s population and include restaurants, museums, zoos, movie theaters, family entertainment and game rooms, Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday.
The governor’s announcement included bars, pubs, breweries, and wineries that also do not serve food. Restaurants can serve takeout meals.
“Simply put, the spread of this virus continues at a particularly worrying rate,” Newsom said, adding that the percentage of people who test positive is increasing.
These restrictions will remain in place for at least three weeks, Newsom said.
Newsom said California state beaches in areas where local governments have closed theirs will also be closed. Parking lots on state beaches that are open in Southern California and the Bay Area will not be operational.
California is not the only state that announced new restrictions. Michigan is shutting down indoor bar service in most of the lower state. The governors of Pennsylvania and Oregon ordered their citizens to cover their faces.
The weekend could be a “perfect storm”
As the July 4 weekend approaches, an infectious disease doctor said the United States may be heading into “the perfect storm” for a spike in coronavirus cases.
“It has created a perfect storm: the combination of traveling, the combination of reopening, perhaps in some cases, too soon, and the combination of people who do not necessarily follow some of these preventive guidelines,” said Dr. Joshua Barocas, a contagious Disease doctor at Boston Medical Center, said during a briefing Wednesday by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Barocas said cases skyrocketed in some states after Memorial Day. Thirty-seven states now show an upward trend in last week’s number of cases, and only two states, New Jersey and Rhode Island, show a downward trend.
“I am very concerned, especially given next weekend, that you will see the same types of spikes, the same types of surges, not only in places that are currently experiencing surges, but in places that have already experienced surges and in those who have not yet done so, “he said.
Dr. Ricardo Franco, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said, “This increase in our first prolonged wave of infections, it is very difficult to predict what could happen and the weekend of July 4 could play an important role in this. “
Other states order bars to close
Some states with hotspots are taking action in an attempt to reduce crowds by closing bars, closing beaches, and canceling fireworks displays.
A total of 23 states have changed or paused reopening plans due to spikes in coronavirus cases, and the bars have received special attention.
“If you have bars, you have music,” said Franco. “If you have music, you want to socialize. And you want to speak louder than usual so that you can overcome the background noise.”
All of those factors can increase the spread of the virus, he said.
Texas, Colorado and Delaware have mandated closings or limits on bar operations.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also gave bars nothing to cheer about when he appeared before Congress this week.
“Bars: It really isn’t good, it really isn’t good. The congregation in a bar inside is bad news. We really have to stop that,” Fauci said Tuesday.
In battered South Florida, the beaches from Palm Beach to Key West will be closed for the holiday weekend.
A hopeful note from another corner of the country: New York City’s beaches have been opened for swimming.
Fauci says the first mask messages were confusing
The “mixed message” about wearing a mask at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has contributed to the reluctance of some Americans to cover their faces now, Fauci told NPR on Wednesday.
Americans who had no coronavirus symptoms were told not to wear a mask in February and March, as the shortage of personal protective equipment for medical workers worsened.
By May, health experts, including Fauci, changed their orientation and urged everyone to wear masks in public to prevent the virus from spreading.
“I think that had an effect,” Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NPR.
Fauci admitted that the first message to Americans about wearing a mask was “confusing.” Without elaborating, he said there were now “many other things” that contribute to why people don’t want to wear a face mask.
“We have to admit that that mixed message at first, while well-intentioned, to allow masks to be available to help workers, was detrimental to getting the message across at this point,” Fauci said. “No doubt about that.”
CNN’s Joe Sutton, Shelby Lin Erdman, Keith Allen, Madeline Holcombe, Jamie Gumbrecht, Vivian Kuo, Andrea Kane, and Evan Simko-Bednarski contributed to this report.
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