COVID-19 deaths soar in the U.S. while Australia reports record spike

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California, Florida and Texas, the three largest U.S. states, all set one-day records for fatalities from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a Reuters tally showed, and the Miami-area school district said students would not return to classrooms when the new academic year begins as deaths from the virus spiked nationwide. 

The United States has registered 10,000 deaths over the last 11 days, the fastest surge since early June, prompting heated debates between the American public and its leaders over the best course forward. New infections do not appear to be rising at the same pace.

“In light of viral surge in our community, it’s in the best interest of students and employees to commence the 20-21 school year at a distance,” Miami-Dade County Public Schools said on Twitter. Classes are set to begin Aug. 31 in Miami-Dade, which has more than 350,000 students, making it the country’s fourth largest school district.

With the scheduled reopening of schools days away in some states, President Donald Trump has pushed for students to return to class while teacher unions and local officials have called for them to stay home.

One person in the United States died about every minute from COVID-19 on Wednesday as the national death toll surpassed 150,000, the highest in the world.

Commercial pilot Rob Koreman of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said he was stunned by the climbing numbers.

“I’m a pilot and hit so many cities, so many people on board, I have to be aware,” said Koreman, 50. “Basically, none of this should have happened. We needed state coordination, if not flat-out a federal mandate.”

The pace of coronavirus infections has accelerated since late May and the epicenter has moved to the South and West from New York, which still has by far the highest number of fatalities of any U.S. state at more than 32,000.

California, Florida and Texas together account for one-quarter of the total U.S. populaton.

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The surge has hampered efforts to recover from an economic crisis brought on by stay-at-home orders and business closures that have thrown millions of Americans out of work.

“We have seen some signs in recent weeks that the increase in virus cases and the renewed measures to control it are starting to weigh on economic activity,” the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said at a news conference following release of the U.S. central bank’s latest policy statement.

Many health experts say the outbreak could be brought under greater control if guidelines to maintain social distancing and wear masks in public were enforced nationwide.

Trump has rejected the idea of a federal mask order and was initially reluctant to be seen wearing one. Trump has since come around to supporting masks.

Representative Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas who has at times refused to wear a mask, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising concerns that other members of Congress may have been exposed.

Officials in New Jersey, which has the country’s second-highest death toll, again pleaded with young people to avoid large gatherings.

“Coronavirus is more easily transmitted indoors. Crowded indoor house parties are not smart or safe,” Governor Phil Murphy wrote on Twitter.

The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicted in March that the pandemic could kill more than 81,000 people by July.

In its latest statement on July 14, the IHME said its model now projects the U.S. death toll at more than 224,000 by Nov. 1; it said many fatalities could be avoided by preventative measures such as masks and social distancing.

Australia recorded its deadliest day in the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday with at least 13 deaths and more than 700 new infections mainly in Victoria state, where the government ordered all residents to wear face-coverings outside.

The toll takes the country’s total fatalities from the novel coronavirus to 189, more than half of which have occurred in the second-most popular state of Victoria and its capital Melbourne, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Australia had prided itself on rapidly containing the initial COVID-19 outbreak but a second wave which began in Victoria last month has forced Melbourne back into lockdown and sparked outbreaks in other areas including Sydney.

“We’ve now been in this lockdown (in Melbourne) for some weeks and we are not getting the results we would hope for, and as a result the further measures that are taken are certainly necessary,” Morrison told reporters, backing the restrictions announced by the Victorian government.

“On some days the virus wins, on other days we beat it. But I think we’ve got to be careful not to slip into some idea that there’s some golden immunity that Australia has in relation to this virus.”

Further restrictions on movement would deal a blow to the economy which is already in its first recession for 30 years, but failure to control the latest outbreaks would do more economic harm in the long run, Morrison added.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said everyone in the state of more than 6 million people would be required to wear a mask when outside from Sunday, widening a requirement already in place in Melbourne.

He also extended social distancing restrictions, with residents in communities southwest of Melbourne no longer allowed to have visitors to their homes from late Thursday.

Cafes, pubs and restaurants would be allowed to stay open, however, because these were controlled environments where social distancing rules could be enforced.

“Having friends over to your house is not a controlled environment,” Andrews said.

The previous record daily count of new infections in Australia was 518 reported on Monday. The country has confirmed a total of 16,298 cases since the pandemic began.

Andrews said that while the latest spike in cases was concerning, the majority of them were at known hotspots such as aged-care homes and the number of untraceable infections was “much smaller”.

Australia’s most-populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported 18 new cases, with six from unknown sources.

Northeastern Queensland state, which had effectively eliminated the virus, said it had found three new cases, two of whom were believed to have contracted COVID-19 while in the NSW capital Sydney. Queensland closed its borders to people from Sydney on Wednesday.

Queensland police allege that two 19-year-old women who brought the virus into the state after returning from a trip to Victoria had falsified travel documents and lied to authorities about their movements.

Both now faced criminal charges but one was continuing to refuse to tell officials where she had been, amid a spike in cases south of Brisbane where the pair reside.

“They went to extraordinary lengths to be deceitful and deceptive and quite frankly criminal in their behaviour and that is what has put the community at risk,” Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll told reporters.

Queensland earlier this month denied entry to anyone who had been to Victoria in the previous 14 days.

REUTERS