As the United States passes 9 million Covid-19 cases, the country keeps racking up infections and other statistics that alarm experts.
On Friday, the US reported more than 99,000 new cases – the most the country has ever reported in one day during the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University. The US also reported more than 1,000 deaths Friday.
Here are a few more startling numbers froma week that saw 536,131 new cases through Thursday, as reported by Johns Hopkins.
? The US seven-day average of new daily cases was 76,513 as of Thursday.
? That’s up 25% from the previous week.
? It’s an 83% increase over the last month.
? Nine states reported a record high single-day of new cases Thursday: Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota and Ohio.
A US health expert has a dire warning for the country. “Today, we now have one person being diagnosed of coronavirus every second,” emergency physician and former Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said Friday. “We have one American dying of coronavirus every two minutes, and that number is increasing.”
Wen told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that she is most concerned about the rate of test positivity.
“In some states, one in two people who are getting tested are testing positive,” she said. “That means that we’re not doing nearly enough testing, and that every person who tests positive is a canary in a coal mine.”
Thirty states reported have reported at least one day of record-high new cases in October: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Twenty-four states saw their highest 7-day averages for new daily cases Thursday, Johns Hopkins shows: Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
“There are almost certainly to be many more dozens of other cases that we’re not detecting, and that escalation is going to increase in the weeks to come,” Wen added.