(CNN) – U.S will have another record of new cases of coronavirus Days before the July 4 weekend, with at least 23 states pausing on reopening plans to combat the spread of covid-19.
There were 50,203 new cases of coronavirus reported across the country on Wednesday in the single-day record. It took a little over two months to log numbers close to that across the country when the pandemic started. And just last week, the new cases rocketed to another record.
At least five states – Arizona, California, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas – reported a new case registration number on Wednesday. And health officials are urging Americans to limit their holiday weekend celebrations to avoid clusters of outbreaks.
“We know that people are tired of being locked up at home … but the surgical cases after Memorial Day,” said Dean Sidelinger, Oregon state health official. “We don’t want the same thing to happen during the Independence Day holiday.”
In Nebraska, employees advised residents to keep a contact list to follow up in the future if they have guests by July 4. Install people to do storytelling events outdoors if possible, avoid sharing items like sunscreen and maintain social distance.
The weekend of July 4 could be the “perfect storm” for a peak in coronavirus cases, said Dr. Joshua Barocas, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center.
“The combination of travel, reopening, perhaps in some cases, too soon, and that of people who do not follow some of these preventive guidelines,” he said.
LEE : Americans must unite against covid-19 to avoid hitting 100,000 cases a day, expert warns
Keeping bars closed for schools to reopen in the fall
The coronavirus has killed some 128,000 people and infected more than 2.6 million across the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
With the growing number of new cases, swift actions will now determine what will happen in the coming months, experts said. If governors want schools to reopen in the fall, they must now contain the number of infections in their communities, Dr. Ashish Jha told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“When they understand the options in clear terms: schools this fall or bars now, those are their options … I think more and more governors, even in places that don’t have big buds, are realizing that maybe we can avoid bars in the summer and fall, if that gives us a better chance to open schools this fall, ”said Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
“The biggest determinant of whether we are going to be able to open schools and keep schools open is the amount of virus in the community,” added Jha. “So when I look at large parts of the country right now and I think that if that is the level of virus that we have in September, we will not be able to keep schools open.”
To do that, officials have to go beyond keeping some public places closed.
“You cannot have bars and gyms open. I’m not sure you have restaurants open. You should have the mandatory use of face masks and increase surveillance, testing, tracing, all that we have been talking about, “said Jha.
The virus shows signs of resurgence
As new cases of coronavirus emerge and states stop reopens, some areas that have progressed against the virus are showing signs of a resurgence.
California was one of the first states to close with some of the strictest measures. On Wednesday, it recorded 9,740 new cases, a number that included more than 3,800 previously unreported cases over a five-day period, authorities said.
More than 28 million Californians live in counties where dining rooms at restaurants, bars, and other indoor facilities have been ordered to remain closed as covid-19 cases increase. The closings affect 72% of the state’s population and include restaurants, breweries, museums, zoos and movie theaters for at least three weeks, said Governor Gavin Newsom.
“The bottom line is that the spread of this virus continues at a particularly concerning rate,” Newsom said.
Michigan is shutting down indoor bar service in most of the lower reaches of the state.
Other states, including Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine and Nevada, which have seen more than a 50% increase in cases, have paused or reversed their reopening plans.
“If you have bars, you have music. If you have music, you want to socialize. And you want to speak louder than usual so you can overcome the background noise, ”said Dr. Ricardo Franco, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
All of those factors can increase the spread, Franco added.
There is still an opportunity to change things
While the predictions are dire, the United States can reverse the growing coronavirus pandemic, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert.
“It doesn’t have to be 100,000 cases a day,” he told NPR on Wednesday. “I used that number because I wanted to shake people up.”
During testimony before a congressional commission on Tuesday, he said that without intervention such as wearing face masks and social distancing, The United States could see up to 100,000 new cases of covid-19 per day. The country is already seeing an average of 40,000 new cases per day.
“If you leave the virus on its own terms, it will take you ahead. Controlling an outbreak is what we do to oppose its dynamics. And if you do things that improve the outbreak, then you’re part of the problem. You are not part of the problem, the solution, ”said Fauci.
The United States may cut the numbers, but it will require people to do things differently and follow the guidelines, Fauci warned.
Shelby Lin Erdman, Cheri Mossburg, Ralph Ellis and Amanda Watts contributed to this report.
– .
