The United States reported nearly 1,500 people died due to COVID-19 Wednesday, the highest single-day total deaths this month so far.
Health officials confirmed Thursday that roughly 1,499 people died due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest single-day total deaths since July 28, when about 2,220 deaths were reported. The Wednesday death toll reflects the continued toll of case surges in Sun Belt states earlier in the summer.
“The deaths we see today are a result of infections from four to eight weeks ago,” Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration’s testing coordinator, said Thursday on a call with reporters.
Over half the deaths reported on Wednesday were spread across the five states that saw the most dramatic case spikes in June and July, including Texas and Florida. While the number of new cases has stabilized, daily deaths have remained high, with about 1,000 new deaths reported each day for two weeks.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top government infectious disease expert, warned Thursday that more states may be headed for a coronavirus surge. He noted that while Southern states and California were starting to see a decline in cases, other states may be heading in the wrong direction.
“This is the thing that is disturbing to me, is that we are starting to see the inkling of the upticks in the percent of the tests that are positive … We know now, from past sad experience, that’s a predictor that you are going to have more surges,” Fauci said during a conversation Thursday with National Geographic.
States that appear to have an increase in their positivity rates are Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said Thursday that the fall could be the “worst” from a public health perspective if people don’t follow coronavirus guidelines.
“I think it’s just dependent upon how the American people choose to respond,” Redfield said in an interview with WebMD. He urged people to social distance, wash their hands, wear a mask, and be smart about crowds.
The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has surpassed 5.2 million, and roughly 167,000 people have died.
Joe Biden said he supports a blanket national mask mandate Thursday, dismissing claims that it would infringe on people’s individual freedoms. He urged every governor to introduce mandatory mask mandates whenever residents were outside their homes “for the next three months at a minimum.”
“It’s not about your rights. It’s about your responsibilities as an American,” Biden said.
He added that wearing a mask, in addition to saving thousands of lives, is a patriotic civic duty, echoing President Trump’s recent rhetoric.
Trump slammed Biden’s remarks Thursday, saying he “doesn’t know too much” and “rejects this scientific approach.”
“We will continue to urge Americans to wear masks … but we’re not [about] to bring the full weight of the federal government down on law-abiding Americans to accomplish this goal,” Trump said. “The governor’s want to do the right thing, to make the smart decisions, and Joe doesn’t.”
New jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 963,000 last week, the first time in 20 weeks that the figure has fallen below 1 million. The total number of people claiming unemployment benefits in all programs for the week ending July 25 was 28.3 million, a decrease of over 3 million from the previous week.
Over 1 in 4 young adults from 18 to 24 years old contemplated suicide during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new data from the CDC. Over 5,400 adults were surveyed in late June, when nearly 11% of them reported they had experienced suicidal thoughts within the 30 days prior to completing the survey. In addition to 25.5% of young adults reporting suicidal thoughts, 31% of nonpaid caregivers looking after sick and elderly loved ones reported they had contemplated suicide due to stresses of the pandemic.
Talks on a new round of coronavirus aid ground to a halt Thursday when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Senate would recess for the remainder of the summer district work period. McConnell had kept the chamber in session in a last-ditch effort to pass another piece of legislation that would fund schools and jobless pay as well as testing and treatment for COVID-19.
“The Senate was supposed to spend this week finalizing another bipartisan rescue package for the American people,” McConnell said Thursday. “Unfortunately, the Democrats have continued to let working families down. They are still rejecting any more relief for anyone unless they get to run down a wish list of demands with no real relationship to COVID-19.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday Democrats would reduce their proposal by $1 trillion if the GOP would raise theirs to $2 trillion. She said unless White House negotiators would agree to the $2 trillion starting point, Democrats would not meet for talks. Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, have repeatedly made the offer to Trump administration negotiators, they said.
