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New U.S. Coronavirus Cases Climb to 100,000 Per Day

By Sara Mosqueda
5 November 2020

Today in Security

Coronavirus cases are on the rise, with 3 November marking the first time the United States surpassed 100,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in a single day.

“And it’s not just due to more testing,” CNN reported. According to the article, data from Johns Hopkins University found that while new cases have risen 21 percent within the past week, testing has increased only 4.52 percent during that same time, as reported by The COVID Tracking Project.

Thirty-five U.S. states saw a rise in cases, with a more than 55 percent increase in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, and Minnesota. The only U.S. states to log an overall decline in new confirmed cases were Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Vermont, according to Axios.

“All signs indicate that the pandemic will keep getting worse throughout the winter, making it harder and harder to eventually control—even if there’s a new president, and even with a vaccine,” the Axios article said.

Hospitalizations for people suffering from the virus have also risen to new records in Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. With more than 52,000 coronavirus patients occupying a hospital bed in the United States, some are again worrying about exceeding hospital capacity or having enough health care workers to care for patients.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned back in June that the consequences of reaching 100,000 cases in a day would include a strain on both health workers and medical resources.

“We have to understand if we have 100,000 cases a day, we will have a crisis in intensive care units around the country,” he told the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Some U.S. states are attempting to curb the spread of the virus with stay-home orders. In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker announced executive orders—effective 6 November—for a curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., as well as new restrictions on gatherings and venues’ hours of operation. The orders also recommend that residents remain home unless they are travelling to work or school, heading out to the grocery store or pharmacy, or are going for a walk. Everyone older than the age of 5 must wear a face mask or face covering in any public space, even outdoors. Restaurants must stop providing table service by 9:30 p.m., although carry-out can continue past this time. The new guidelines are expected to be effective for at least a month.

In El Paso County, Texas, a county judge ordered a two-week shutdown of any non-essential operations. The state’s attorney general filed an injunction against the order on behalf of a group of restaurant owners, however, claiming it violates the governor’s executive orders. The county recently set a new record with 3,100 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Wednesday, and received another mobile morgue at the beginning of the month, making it the fourth refrigerated unit the county has needed to temporarily store bodies.

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