The U.S. surpassed 3 million confirmed Covid-19 cases less than a month after crossing the 2 million mark, as the virus spread rapidly in the nation’s three most populous states.
Climbing case counts in California, Texas and Florida drove the U.S. to a new single-day record of infections, with 60,000 new cases reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
After the coronavirus was first reported in the U.S. in January, the first one million reported cases developed over roughly three months, as testing centered around those who had fallen ill and essential workers. The second million cases were reported over a period of about six weeks.
Higher case counts are attributable in part to a rapid expansion of testing across the country. Even so, the percentage of positive test cases has also been rising in parts of Florida, California and elsewhere, an indication that the infection is accelerating, since the expansion of testing should bring the overall percentage of positive cases down. Experts including Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease doctor, have warned that the higher percentage of positive tests “cannot be explained by increased testing.”
The U.S. death toll stands at more than 131,000, according to Johns Hopkins. The country currently has 40.19 deaths per 100,000 residents, which places it among the top 10 countries in the world in that metric, Johns Hopkins data shows.
Face masks are distributed in downtown Miami.
Photo: cristobal herrera-ulashkevich/ShutterstockWhile the U.S. has the most fatalities of any country in the world, it doesn’t have the highest percentage of deadly cases. The percentage of confirmed U.S. infections resulting in fatality declined slightly to 4.4% from 4.8% a week ago, according to a Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that more than 20 million people may have contracted the virus, nearly 10 times the number of confirmed cases, so the actual rate may be much lower.
Still, infectious-disease epidemiologists caution that deaths typically lag behind other indicators, as the disease often progresses over the course of weeks in the most severe cases.
Public health officials say the percentage of positive tests combined with new case numbers, hospitalization rates and deaths, among other metrics, together show the virus’s spread throughout a community. Increased coronavirus-related hospitalizations have strained hospital systems in several states including Texas, Arizona and Florida. Some hospitals have struggled to contain the spread of the disease from within their walls.
Understanding Coronavirus
As U.S. cases continued to rise, the Trump administration followed through on threats to withdraw from the World Health Organization. The administration and some public-health experts have questioned whether the group’s response to the virus was too deferential to China.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has denied the organization bowed to pressure from Beijing.
The exit won’t take effect until next July, leaving it contingent on President Trump’s re-election. His rival for the White House, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said Tuesday that the U.S. would remain a member if he won.
Florida reported 7,361 cases Tuesday. The seven-day average for cases there is higher than the 14-day average, an indication that the spread is intensifying, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from Johns Hopkins.
Texas, another coronavirus hot spot, reported its highest one-day increase in infections, with more than 10,000 new cases recorded. It is one of three states to have reported 10,000 cases in a single day, along with Florida and New York.
Connecticut, New York and New Jersey added three states Tuesday—Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma—to their advisory lists requiring inbound travelers to follow a 14-day quarantine period. Their lists now include 19 states where the seven-day rolling average of positive coronavirus tests exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents.
On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to reopen the nation’s largest school district this fall with a mix of online learning and in-person instruction two or three days a week. The mayor said the plan would balance the safety of students and staff with the need for academic progress. The Trump administration has been pressuring states to reopen schools in the fall.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would open free Covid-19 testing in Baton Rouge, La., Edinburg, Texas, and Jacksonville, Fla.—which will host the Republican National Convention in August—in response to “a recent and intense level of new cases and hospitalizations.”
Sources: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering; the Lancet; Associated Press; U.S. Census
Other countries also faced challenges in trying to contain the virus.
The total number of confirmed cases in Russia passed 700,000 Wednesday, authorities said, with fatalities standing at more than 10,600.
India reported 22,752 new cases, taking its total to 742,417, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The country’s death toll rose by 482, to 20,642.
In New Zealand, a man who left the hotel where he was under quarantine has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 32-year-old went to a supermarket while he was away from the hotel, said Air Commodore Darryn Webb, head of managed isolation and quarantine. He has been moved to a more secure facility, Mr. Webb said. The man could face up to six months in prison if charged under a law governing the public-health response to the pandemic.
In Beijing, municipal health authorities reported zero Covid-19 cases, marking the second day of no new locally transmitted infections since a wave emerged from the Xinfadi wholesale food market on June 11. The deputy director of the Beijing Center for Diseases Prevention and Control urged people to stay cautious and said the possibility of new cases in the coming week couldn’t be ruled out.
In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonarotested positive for the virus. He is one of the most prominent world leaders to play down the significance of the pandemic and frequently appeared in public without a mask until ordered last month by a court to wear one.
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With 1.6 million infections, Brazil is second only to the U.S. for the most infections and deaths in the world.
Write to David Hall at david.hall@wsj.com
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