In addition, the US coronavirus death toll has surpassed 154,000 fatalities, the highest in the world, according to Worldometer. According to the Reuters tally, the US recorded 1,456 new deaths on Wednesday, which is the highest one-day total in the nation since May 27.
The latest data by Worldometer shows that so far on Thursday, more than 750 new COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in the US. Across the nation, the death toll has continued to increase over the last three weeks. The US states of Arizona, California, Florida and Texas have experienced surging cases that have threatened to overwhelm hospitals during the last month. In Arizona, thousands of new cases have been reported over the last week, and the state has only recently started to see declines in infections, with only 28 new cases reported on Wednesday, according to the state’s health department, though some cases from the last week may not have been reported yet. In Florida, there were 9,943 new cases reported on Wednesday alone, bringing the total number of cases confirmed among state residents to more than 456,000.
California has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the US, with more than 475,000, and there have been a total of 8,715 COVID-19 related deaths in the state so far. In Texas, more than 9,000 new cases were reported on Wednesday. In addition, more than 300 COVID-19-related deaths were reported in the Lone Star State on Wednesday alone.
Even though COVID-19 cases and deaths have increased in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, the states of New York and New Jersey still have the most total deaths and deaths per capita, according to the Reuters tally. Other states in the middle of the country, including Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, are now all seeing spikes in the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive.
"What inevitably is going to happen is that the states that are not yet in trouble, will likely get into trouble," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a Wednesday interview with MSNBC, CNN reported.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, also urged state and local officials in middle America to issue mask mandates during a “Fox & Friends” interview on Thursday.
"We believe if the governors and mayors of every locality right now would mandate masks for their communities and every American would wear a mask, and socially distance, and not congregate in large settings where you can't socially distance or wear a mask, that we can really get control of this virus and drive down cases, as Arizona has done," Birx said.
The Reuters tally also shows that the US is sixth in the world in deaths per capita, with 45 fatalities per 100,000 people. The United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Peru and Chile have suffered more deaths per capita than the US.
