US hits 2 million coronavirus cases as states see jump in infections after reopening
- New wave coming in parts of country, warns Johns Hopkins health expert
- Not clear if latest outbreaks are linked to increased economic activity, with puzzling differences emerging even within states
A month into its reopening, Florida reported 8,553 new coronavirus cases this week – the most of any seven-day period.
In Texas, hospitalisations on Tuesday jumped 6.3 per cent to 2,056, the highest since the pandemic emerged and the third consecutive daily increase.
California’s hospitalisations are at their highest since May 13 and have risen in nine of the past 10 days.
A fresh onslaught of the novel coronavirus is bringing challenges for residents and the economy in pockets across the US, which on Wednesday hit 2,000,464 reported cases, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
The localised surges have raised alarms among experts even as they are masked by the nation’s overall case count, which early this week rose just under 1 per cent, the smallest increase since March.
“There is a new wave coming in parts of the country,” said Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security. “It’s small and it’s distant so far, but it’s coming.”
