A health worker places a stretcher inside an ambulance at the entrance of the Houston Methodist Hospital emergency room at the Texas Medical Center as cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Houston, Texas.
Callaghan O’Hare | Reuters
The United States broke its daily record for coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting more than 77,000 new cases, as the number of deaths in a 24-hour period increased by nearly 1,000, according to a Reuters count.
The loss of 969 lives was the biggest increase since June 10, with Florida, South Carolina and Texas reporting their biggest one-day spikes on Thursday.
More than 138,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, a number that experts warn is likely to increase after recent record spikes in case numbers and an alarming increase in hospitalizations in many states.
The hardest hit areas in Texas and Arizona are running out of places to store bodies as their morgues fill up and bring in refrigerators and refrigerated trailers.
Deaths in the United States peaked in April, when the country lost an average of 2,000 people per day. Deaths have steadily decreased, averaging 1,300 per day in May and less than 800 per day in June before rising again in July, according to a Reuters count.
Americans have become increasingly divided on issues like reopening schools and businesses and wearing face masks in public, making it harder to fight the virus.
The current count of 77,217 cases exceeds the previous record set on Friday when cases increased by 69,070. In June, cases increased by an average of 28,000 per day, according to a Reuters count. In July, they increased an average of 57,625 per day.
On Thursday, Texas reported more than 15,000 new cases, according to a Reuters count of county data, while Florida reported nearly 14,000 new cases and California nearly 10,000.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease expert, warned that cases could soon exceed 100,000 a day if Americans don’t join together to take the necessary steps to stop the virus from spreading.
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