40,000 new Covid cases were reported yesterday in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins data tracker, the worst yet in a pandemic that refused to go away and is once again surging.
There are 2.42m cases reported in total and 124,415 people are dead. Cases are climbing sharply in California, Texas and Florida. Alabama, Texas and Nevada report hospitals close to capacity.
The Washington Post reports more grim facts :
• The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the number of cases reported, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a call with reporters Thursday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said, “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that’s reported, there actually are 10 other infections.”
• A rush to reopen the nation’s economy without proper safety measures in place is behind this week’s spike in cases, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said Thursday on the “Today” show.
• President Trump continued to push the discredited notion that coronavirus cases are increasing in the United States because of “GREAT TESTING” and complained that the news media was not spreading the word. While testing has increased, health experts say that in several states with rising caseloads, new cases are outpacing the spread of testing.
