Coronavirus cases are rising in 41 US states.
The US reported its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus cases on Thursday (16 July), as cases surged in many areas across the country.
According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, which utilises official government data, the US recorded a record-breaking 77,300 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours.
It means that confirmed coronavirus cases in the US climbed to north of 3.5 million.
This marks the highest one-day total for the pandemic so far, with the US consistently setting new one-day records in recent days and weeks.
On 10 July, the US reported 67,800 new cases of Covid-19.
Record numbers of coronavirus-related deaths were also reported in South Carolina, Florida and Texas on Thursday with health officials in these areas worried that hospitals may be at breaking point.
In Texas, US army medics have been deployed to help deal with the overflow as the state reported 11,000 cases in one day.
Florida set a record of almost 14,000 new cases on Wednesday and on Thursday, it reported 156 deaths.
It’s thought that at least 135,000 people with coronavirus have died in the US since the outbreak began, a large chunk of the approximately 576,800 deaths reported worldwide.
Speaking earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said the US has such a high number of cases because it does a lot of testing.
“Think of this, if we didn’t do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases,” Trump said at a press conference at the White House.
“If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always testing.”
A number of states are rolling back on reopening and some are introducing mandatory face coverings to help curb the spread of the virus.
However, Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp has sued to stop the city of Atlanta from enforcing some of its coronavirus-related rules, including its mandate to wear a face covering in public.
Kemp argues that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms does not have the authority to implement a mask-wearing order and she should follow his executive orders instead.
An area of contention has also been the issue of schools and whether they should reopen for in-person classes.
The Trump administration is in favour of the schools reopening, while school officials have expressed concerns.
“The president has said unmistakably that he wants schools to open,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing on Thursday.
“I was just in the Oval talking to him about that, and when he says open, he means open and full, kids being able to attend each and every day at their school.
“The science should not stand in the way of this.”
McEnany added: “We encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools. It’s very damaging to our children.
“There’s a lack of reporting of abuse, there’s mental depressions that are not addressed, suicidal ideations that are not address when students are not in school.”
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