US records highest one-day total in coronavirus cases since April

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/americans-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-increase


Amanda Holpuch in New York, Maanvi Singh in Oakland and agencies
Wed 24 Jun 2020 18.17 EDT


The US has recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new Covid-19 cases, the highest level since late April, when the number peaked at 36,400, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

A coronavirus resurgence is wiping out two months of progress in the US and sending infections to dire new levels in southern and western states.

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While newly-confirmed infections have been declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma.

North Carolina and South Carolina joined some other states in breaking hospitalization records.

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The record-high hospitalizations indicate the rise in cases is not simply because of increased testing, a point confirmed by the leading public health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, Anthony Fauci, and in sharp contrast to views put forward by Donald Trump.

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Texas governor Greg Abbott urged people to stay at home, as a children’s hospital in Houston was forced to admit adults because of increasing coronavirus cases.

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Amid the increase in cases, the Trump administration is ending funding and support for 13 testing sites in states including Texas this month, local officials told Talking Points Memo.

Rocky Vaz, the director of emergency management for the city of Dallas, told the website that the city had asked the federal government to extend the testing program but it refused.

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