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More than 79,000 new instances of the virus were reported across the country on Friday, breaking an earlier record of a day and generating fears for the coming months.
By Campbell Robertson, Edgar Sandoval, Lucy Tompkins and Simon Romero
The United States is in the midst of one of the most severe coronavirus outbreaks to date, with more new cases reported across the country on Friday than any other day since the start of the pandemic.
Since the beginning of October, accumulation in some cases has been stable and inexorable, without a plateau in sight. By Friday night, more than 79,000 cases had been reported across the country, breaking a single-day record set on July 16 in more than 3000 instances.
According to this measure, Friday was the worst day of the pandemic, and fitness experts warned of a further increase as the bloody climate approaches. The number of other people hospitalized by Covid-19 already increased by 40% last month. remained relatively solid but is an indicator of delinquency.
The most recent outbreaks, followed by New York Times reports from state and local fitness departments, are scattered throughout the country, in states such as Illinois and Rhode Island, which are experiencing a momentary recovery, and in places like Montana and South Dakota, which are still experiencing a first case outbreak.
Thirteen states added more cases of coronavirus in the following week than in any seven-day period. By Friday, six states had established or matched weekly records of new deaths. Wisconsin had its deadliest day in the pandemic on Wednesday, with a total of 47 deaths announced.
The geography of the pandemic has been superseded since the coronavirus reached the United States last winter: epidemics hit the Northeast in the spring, the Sun Belt in the summer, and now the Midwest and Western states, which are home to all 10 counties in the country with the recent high. cases consistent with capita.
“This is a building after a building after a building, week after week,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Nothing has been added by combining that will slow things down. “
For many, the increase in numbers brought crushed memories of what it was like in mid-July, when the virus swept the solar belt.
Raymond Embry saw the worst up close. His small medical clinic in Arizona performed about five coronavirus tests a day, which increased to dozens per day, and then the July 16 outbreak arrived, with another 4192 people covered for testing to see if they had coronavirus.
That day, arguably the worst pandemic in the United States to date, set national records. By the end of the 24-hour period consistent with the period, 75,687 new cases had been reported in the country and Arizona leading the country in terms of deaths consistent with cápita.
“It’s overwhelming to look for gloves and masks, especially when other people were telling you that PPE is widely available and that’s just a lie,” Embry said, referring to the shortage of non-public products Protective device that fitness staff want to try safely.
On the Texas-Mexico border, mid-July was a nightmare: Johnny Salinas Jr. , the owner of the Salinas funeral home, attended six to seven funerals a day, a number he would see more than a week before the pandemic. they included a circle of family members and relatives of employees.
Local fitness officials said they had controlled the spread of the virus in the spring, until Texas lifted social estating restrictions just before Memorial Day. Then the numbers went off. In July, Hidalgo County, where Salinas had one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the state, which took Salinas by surprise.
“We didn’t know what to expect, ” said Salinas. ” We didn’t know much about the virus. I was killing a lot of other people at the time.
These days, he sells masks, gloves and hand sanitist at points of sale, seals a bank out of two in chapels in the social distance, and installs a plexiglass barrier to protect the mourners from the deceased.
“For now, we have returned to the general figures, ” Mr. Salinas. “But I’m nervous. People go too far back. That in a moment the wave will come and it will be scarier than the first. “
The virus had already been deeply politicized during the summer and, in this sense, the headlines made on July 16 were not surprising.
That day, President Trump organized an occasion in the South Garden of the White House with vans as accessories, underlining his efforts to push back regulations.
As Georgia experienced the worst week of the pandemic, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, sued the mayor of Atlanta, a Democrat, for the city’s masked term. plans for the conference in Florida, which at the time reported more than 10,000 new cases per day (the conference would eventually pull out of Florida absolutely).
At press conferences on July 16, some Republican bystanders were cautiously positive on the options that were going through the worst era of the pandemic, while some Democratic bystanders expressed deep fear about the state of the epidemic, knowing that the numbers in their states they would spend a lot worse.
“What we’re seeing across the country is alarming,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told a news conference on July 16, a day the state reported 469 new cases. On Tuesday, Kentucky reported 1,288 new infections shown, almost 3 times more. like the day of the governor’s speech.
But in some other parts of the country that day, the virus disappeared.
On July 16, the cities of North Dakota held their annual summer festivals. People applauded the rodeos and danced together, a mask, in the streets.
Erin Ourada, administrator of Custer Health, a public fitness branch west of Bismarck, watched with concern.
“I don’t think the truth has affected most of North Dakota,” Ourada said. It’s even hard to remember that summer, he said this week, when “everyone continues to live their lives and get in position for the next street dance. “they were going to throw. “
When the country reached a record on Friday, experts cared about what the coming weeks will bring.
Testing has become more popular in recent months, and managing more tests can reveal instances that might go unnoticed in a different way, but experts said the buildup in the number of instances may not only be explained as a result of additional testing Although virus instances are increasing, deaths have remained relatively solid at about 775 consistent with the day.
However, this week in North Dakota, hospitals are struggling to find beds. The state now has the worst infection rate in the country, relative to its population, and is finishing official touch tracking in physical care facilities, schools and universities. National Guard members are calling other people to tell them they tested positive.
That’s what he saw coming when the number of cases began to increase in late July, Ourada said, “and we’ve been living on this stage ever since. “
Mitch Smith, Amy Harmon and Sarah Mervosh contributed to the report.
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