The United States set a one-day record for COVID-19 cases June 25, higher than any day since the pandemic began, driven by a surge in the virus in nearly two dozen states, many in the South and West.
As an example, in Florida, on June 26, the Florida Department of Health reported 8,942 new cases of COVID-19, which shatters the previous record, set only two days earlier, when Florida reported 5,511 cases on June 24. The state now has 122,960 coronavirus cases. Also on June 26, Florida recorded 39 new deaths, and 212 additional hospitalizations. This occurs two weeks after Governor Ron DeSantis announced phase two of the state’s reopening plans. The state is reporting a 13.5% positivity rate for new tests conducted.
Meanwhile, the University of Washington’s Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation reports that COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. — currently at 124,000 — could rise by more than 45% to 180,000 by October.
In Texas, leaders of the Houston-based Texas Medical Center, reversed their earlier tone, and said that they are now prepared to handle a COVID-19 surge. However, Peter Hotez, the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, is sounding the alarm. In an interview June 25, Hotez warned that there is a “huge amount of transmission going on in our community,” and indicated, in the paraphrase of finance.yahoo.com, that “current trends in Harris County, which includes Houston, indicated the caseload will triple or quadruple by mid-July.”
