Total US Coronavirus Cases Exceeds Four Million Since January Due to Proliferation of Infections

(Reuters) – The United States approved a total of more than 4 million coronavirus infections on Thursday since the first case of the United States was confirmed in January, according to a Reuters count, reflecting a national escalation of the pandemic.

It took the United States 98 days to reach its first million coronavirus cases, but only 16 days to increase from 3 million to 4 million, according to the count. The total suggests that at least one in 82 Americans has been infected at some point in the pandemic.

The average number of new cases is now increasing by more than 2,600 per hour across the country, the highest rate in the world.

As the epicenter of the US outbreak spread from New York to the south and west, federal, state and local officials clashed over how to ease the blockades imposed on Americans and businesses.

The requirements for residents to wear masks in public have become the subject of fierce political division, as many conservatives argue that such orders violate the United States Constitution.

United States President Donald Trump, a Republican who rejected a mask rule nationwide and was reluctant to wear it himself, this week reversed course and encouraged Americans to do so.

“We have to do our mitigation steps: wear a mask, avoid crowds. We will not see hospitalizations and deaths decrease for a couple of weeks because (they are) lagging indicators, but we are changing that trend, ”US Under Secretary of Health Brett Giroir told the Fox News Network in an interview. .

Giror also pushed for faster test results and Quest Diagnostics Inc (DGX.N), one of the nation’s largest medical testing companies, said Thursday it hopes to cut response times by one week for COVID-19 tests by more than half to reach “acceptable” levels in September.

GRAPHIC: Tracking the New Coronavirus in the US Here

SCHOOLS IN THE DEBATE CENTER

Another partisan point of discussion is whether schools should reopen entirely for the fall period despite concerns that doing so could cause another spike in infections.

In Florida, the state’s teachers union has sued to stop classroom instruction. Florida reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths Thursday to 173.

Florida’s health commissioner said earlier this month that schools should reopen, but Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has since said parents should have the option of keeping their children at home.

Trump, who said he could withhold federal funds from school districts that challenge his recommendation to reopen, said Wednesday that the decision would rest with the governors.

Administration officials have said a faster reopening is essential for the crater economy to move again, a centerpiece of Trump’s re-election campaign. Trump has been conducting his first coronavirus briefings in months without experts on his task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci, who became a household name in the early days of the pandemic, will launch the first ceremonial pitch Thursday on the opening day of the truncated Major League Baseball season in National Park in Washington, DC

Trump’s rival for the presidency, Democrat Joe Biden, criticized his handling of the pandemic in a video broadcast Thursday. [nL2N2EU1ET]

The video took the form of an organized conversation between Biden and former President Barack Obama, in which the two men discussed what they characterized as a failure by Trump to take responsibility for solving the crisis.

“Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, ‘Isn’t it my responsibility?'” Biden asked Obama.

“Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office,” Obama replied.

FIGURE: Where Coronavirus Cases Are Rising in the United States Here