(Reuters) – The total number of reported coronavirus cases in the United States exceeded 4 million on Thursday, reflecting a rapid acceleration of infections detected in the country since the first case was registered on January 21, according to a Reuters count.
FILE PHOTO: Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) arrive with a correctional patient at the North Shore Medical Center where patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are treated, in Miami, Florida, USA, 14 of July 2020. REUTERS / Maria Alejandra Cardona
According to the count, it took the country 98 days to reach 1 million cases, but only 16 days to go from 3 million to 4 million. The average number of new cases in the US now increases by more than 2,600 per hour, the highest rate in the world.
As the pandemic has spread widely across the country, from New York’s early epicenter to the south and west, federal, state, and local officials have clashed over how to combat it, including how and when to ease restrictions social and economic resources designed to curb the infection rate.
Whether to order the use of masks, a common practice in the rest of the world and recommended by the federal government’s own health experts, it has become highly politicized, and some Republican governors are particularly resistant.
However, hostility to the idea seemed to be easing this week, including by the Republican administration of President Donald Trump, who once dismissed wearing masks in an effort to be politically correct.
Trump, who is facing declining poll numbers for his handling of the health crisis ahead of the November election, has declined to wear a mask in public, but this week encouraged Americans to do so.
While Trump did not issue a national mandate, US Under Secretary of Health Brett Giroir on Thursday cited the importance of the masks to “change course.”
“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 due to lagging indicators, but we are changing that trend, ”Giroir told Fox News Network.
He also said that the time it currently takes to retrieve the results of the coronavirus test should be reduced. The huge increase in infections has created a backlog of evidence.
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
“THAT THING WORKS”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Thursday that measures such as wearing masks were helping to reduce the number of deaths and new cases in his state, once one of the most affected.
“What the current data can tell us is that social distancing, the use of that facial covering, those things work, and it tells us that everyone should be tested,” the Democratic governor said at an event.
On Thursday, Florida reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths with 173 lives lost, according to the state health department. Alabama reported a record increase in cases for the fourth time this month.
Another partisan point of discussion is whether schools should start to fully open in August despite concerns that doing so could cause an increase in infections.
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds if schools don’t reopen, but said at a press conference on Wednesday that the decision would ultimately rest with state governors.
Administration officials have said a faster reopening is essential for the crater economy to move again, another central point of Trump’s re-election campaign.
The White House said Trump would return to discuss the matter Thursday in a briefing at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT).
Trump downplayed the pandemic in its early stages and largely left it to states and cities to coordinate policies to combat the virus, a strategy that was derided by Joe Biden, the alleged Democratic candidate to compete against Trump on March 3. November.
Biden sat down with former President Barack Obama, with whom he served as vice president, for a “socially estranged” conversation posted on Twitter on Thursday.
“Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying, ‘Isn’t it my responsibility?'” Biden asked Obama, referring to Trump and said, “I am not responsible at all” to a question about the testing problems. coronavirus in March.
“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
Additional reports by Doina Chiacu, Editorial Staff, Sonya Hepinstall, Bill Berkrot Edition
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