US Coronavirus Deaths Exceed 1,000 for Third Consecutive Day

(Reuters) – The United States recorded more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, marking the third consecutive day the nation passed that grim milestone as the pandemic escalates in the southern and western states of the United States.

Deaths across the country were recorded at 1,014 on Thursday, and not all states reported. The deaths were 1,135 on Wednesday and 1,141 on Tuesday.

Despite deaths increasing in the United States for the second consecutive week, they remain well below levels seen in April, when an average of 2,000 people a day died from the virus.

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

It took the United States 98 days to reach one million confirmed cases of COVID-19, 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.

GRAPHIC: Tracking the New Coronavirus in the US Here

‘WEAR A MASK, AVOID CROWDS’

“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. .

Trump said Thursday at a White House briefing that critical states may need to delay reopening schools for a few weeks, but pushed for most students to return to classrooms in the fall. [L2N2EU0ZP]

Schools have become another point of discussion. 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 administration officials have said a faster reopening is essential to get the staggered economy moving again, a central element of the president’s reelection campaign.

Trump also said he would no longer hold part of the Republican Party nomination convention in Florida in August due to an increase in coronavirus cases in the state.

“The timing for this event is not the right one,” Trump said at the White House briefing. “It just isn’t right with what happened recently, the outbreak in Florida. Having a great convention is not the right time. ” Trump has been holding his first coronavirus briefings in months without experts from 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 campaign video broadcast Thursday.

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