Soaring U.S. coronavirus cases, hospitalizations overshadow July 4 celebrations

Rising coronavirus cases in 39 U.S. states cast a shadow over the nation’s Fourth of July celebrations as health experts worried that holiday parties will cause a further spike in infections that could overwhelm hospitals.

After towns and cities across the country canceled annual fireworks displays to avoid large crowds gathering, many Americans launched bottle rockets and roman candles from streets and suburban backyards to commemorate Independence Day.

In the first four days of July alone, 15 states have reported record increases in new cases of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 3 million Americans and killed about 130,000, according to a Reuters tally.

Florida’s cases have risen by over 10,000 for three out of the last four days, including climbing by 10,059 on Sunday, surpassing the highest daily tally reported by any European country during the height of the coronavirus outbreak there. Cases are also soaring in Arizona, California and Texas and trending upwards in Midwest states that once had infections declining such as Iowa, Ohio and Michigan, according to a Reuters analysis of how much cases rose in the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks.

In Phoenix, Arizona, people gathered on Saturday without masks or social distancing to listen to a speaker at a rally against restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. Many in the crowd wore red, white and blue, and some held signs saying, “Capitalism makes sense. Socialism doesn’t. Go Trump 2020.”

“We opened way too early in Arizona,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said on ABC. She said the city was in a “crisis related to testing,” with people waiting in eight-hour lines in their cars to find out if they were infected.

During an Independence Day speech at the White House on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States were “totally harmless.”

In Texas alone, the number of COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized rose to a record 7,890 on Saturday compared with 3,247 just two weeks ago. The Democratic mayor of Austin, Texas, warned during an interview with CNN that his city’s hospitals could reach capacity in two weeks and run out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in 10 days. In Arizona, about 90% of ICU beds are full.

‘NO ROOM TO EXPERIMENT’

Trump, a Republican, has refused to wear a mask in public and has been reluctant to encourage Americans to do so, saying it was a personal choice. A July 4 celebration he attended at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota was “mask-optional” and had no social distancing.

Mixed messaging from governments has been a major factor in people not following coronavirus mitigation recommendations in Miami Beach, said its Democratic mayor, Dan Gelber.

Miami Beach’s coronavirus hospitalizations have doubled in the last 14 days and hospitals now have 158 people on ventilators, up from 64 two weeks ago, he told CNN.

“We’re spreading it because of this incredible activity, and too many people obviously are not taking seriously all of these admonishments to socially distance to wear masks,” he said.

In addition to rising cases, an alarming percentage of tests are coming back positive. The World Health Organization considers a positivity rate above 5% to be cause for concern because it suggests there are more cases in the community that have yet to be uncovered.

Ten states averaged double-digit positivity rates over the past week – Arizona (26%), Florida (18%), South Carolina (17%), Nevada (14%), Alabama (14%), Texas (14%), Mississippi (13%), Georgia (13%), Idaho (11%) and Kansas (10%), according to The COVID Tracking Project https://covidtracking.com/data/charts/state-percent-positive-and-average-tests-per-100k-people, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak.

Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, a hard-hit county in Texas that includes Houston, said officials must be proactive in getting ahead of the virus and advocated a stay-at-home order. “We don’t have room to experiment. We don’t have room for incrementalism when we’re seeing these kinds of numbers,” she told ABC.

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7 Thoughts to “Soaring U.S. coronavirus cases, hospitalizations overshadow July 4 celebrations”

  1. Crackerjack

    If you people had any sense you would look at the death rate not at cases death rate has went down for last month you don’t talk about that it’s all gloom and doom It’s all political it will become no more that the flu after the election

  2. MICHAEL MANLEY

    please report on decline in death rate

  3. Retired Marine

    It’s not hard to see why there is an increase. Mobs of criminals, majority BLACK, BLM, ANTIFA, and their ilk have gone insane. They are rioting over bull s–t at the behest of the NAZI war criminal George Soros, and PUSHED BY THE LFTISTS in the house and senate. Anti-Police, anti CONSTITUTION, anti-President Trump, anti anything to blame for their ANTI-AMERICANISM.
    BS. They should ALL be shot dead, and SOROS should be HUNG.
    After all, THAT is what SOROS want’s to do to those of us who aren’t STUPID and LAZY.

    As you can tell, I am sick and tired of the lies as a reason to be less than animals. They should be shot on sight, run over with heavy vehicles, hung, and any other gruesome death one can dream up. IT’S THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NOT IRAN.

  4. Nellie

    Is Trump testing the drug he took for the virus? Maybe everyone should take it . Why are some getting the virus and others not affected.
    Riots didn’t help.
    Someone wants our economy to fail.
    Thank God for the wall.
    Biden would open borders and allow UN to pick refugees. He would confifate our guns. Not sure he knows what government officials he is running for.
    Gos Bless Trump.

  5. why not talk about the MASSIVE reduction in COVID-19 deaths caused by TIMELY action and Herd Immunity? . . . It seems like the MEDIA is BOUGHT and PAID for by the LYING Left Wingers. O0ne Observant Patriot. Team Trump and his allies 2020.

  6. Let’s be very clear about this because it matters VERY MUCH!
    The tests are up to 85% inaccurate, i.e. up zo 85% of those “cases” may well be actually negative.
    The tests don’t test for the presence of the putative “virus”, known since 2013. They test for parts of hypothetical “antibodies” which, according to medical hypothesis, prove that your immune system has destroyed to so-called virus.
    A case is not someone who is ill but merely someone who has received a highly dubious “positive” test result. The experince throughout, right around the world, has shown that, unless you are already seriously ill, the hypothetical Sars-Cov-2 will, at worst, be part of a very mild cold.

    There is no “outbreak”. There are no sick and none have died! THese are plain facts which anyone can check for themselves. But don’t expect the main stream press to tell you – they are owned lock, stock and barrel by the pharmaceutical cartel that stands to make billions out of this fake plandemic.

    Blessed be
    Karma Singh

  7. Great post with few words, sez it like it is, thank you!

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