Black Lives Matter protesters marched down San Francisco's Mission Street on Saturday to protest police violence and the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
Photo: Brian L. Frank for The Wall Street JournalNearly three months since the U.S. declared a national emergency over the new coronavirus, some states are reporting a rise in new cases as they lift restrictions meant to slow the virus’s spread.
California, Utah, Arizona, North Carolina, Arkansas and Texas, among others, have all logged rises in confirmed cases, according to a Johns Hopkins tabulation of a five-day moving average.
“It’s a very mixed picture,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, an infectious-disease specialist and epidemiologist at Columbia University. “In some places we have made amazing progress, and there are other places where I remain very concerned about what’s going on.”
The U.S.’s overall daily count of new coronavirus cases has steadily decreased in recent weeks. It is now hovering around 20,000, down from a peak of more than 30,000 in April, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Overall testing continues to gradually increase.
The overall decline in new cases in the U.S. is largely due to progress in heavy-hit states. Some states, including Connecticut, New Jersey and New York—the U.S. epicenter—continue a decline in daily cases. Others are logging increases or remain relatively steady.
“If you take out the impact of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and so on, you’d have a much more worrisome picture of what’s happening in the U.S.,” Dr. El-Sadr said.
New York City, which has recorded over 17,000 Covid-19 deaths, is set to begin reopening on Monday. It must meet seven benchmarks, including a certain hospital-bed vacancy rate and a 14-day decline in hospital deaths.
Starting Monday, New York City residents who work in construction and wholesale can return to work, and retail stores can operate with curb-side or in-store pickup only.
At a school in Phoenx, Ariz., desks and chairs remained stacked last Monday, when guidelines were released for reopening the state's K-12 schools in August.
Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated PressAll states have begun lifting stay-at-home restrictions to varying degrees, and public-health experts are calling for continued precautions such as wearing masks to prevent new surges when easing out of lockdowns.
Some public-health authorities are also concerned about a potential rise in cases after thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across the country in protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. Many public-health authorities are encouraging protesters to wear masks, maintain social distancing as much as possible and get tested for the virus.
In the U.S., there have been more than 1.9 million confirmed cases and more than 109,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to the most recent figures from Johns Hopkins. Ar recently as May 30, the U.S. had 1.77 million cases and more than 103,000 deaths.
The exact tally might be higher, as testing capabilities and reporting standards vary from state to state, experts say.
Some evidence suggests that the relaxation of social-distancing practices—either at the personal or state directive level—has contributed to a rise in Covid-19 cases in some places.
Data from cellular phones has shown a rise in people’s mobility and social mixing as early as late March and early April, according to Joseph Lewnard, assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Places that have lifted, in part or whole, some stay-at-home intervention have seen a rise in cases,” Dr. Lewnard said. He believes the increases in some areas are likely linked to activities that occurred during the Memorial Day weekend and to the relaxation of some states’ shelter-in-place orders at that time.
Arizona, which lifted its stay-at-home order on May 15, has registered one of the largest spikes in cases, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, said that reopening the state was the right decision, stating that the increase in cases of people contracting the virus was related to an increase in testing. “Again, the more we test, the more cases that we’re going to have,” Mr. Ducey said at a news conference Thursday.
Customers were served drinks at an outside dining area in Tucson, Ariz., on May 11 after restaurants and coffee shops were allowed to resume offering dine-in service while limiting occupancy and checking employees for Covid-19 symptoms.
Photo: Cheney Orr/Bloomberg NewsThe governor’s spokesman, Patrick Ptak, said, “We’ve known for some time, based on modeling projections provided by FEMA and others, that Arizona was expected to see a peak in June. We expected this, and we are prepared for it.”
Marjorie Bessel, chief clinical officer at Banner Health, the state’s largest hospital network, said there has been increases in coronavirus-related hospital visits, hospitalizations and intensive-care unit patients in June. On certain days in June, the hospital system has logged its highest level of emergency-department visits and hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
“We are seeing a very significant, concerning trend of what we call ‘the sickest of the sick.’ We are seeing an uptick of those patients over the last two weeks,” Dr. Bessel said, adding that those patients are placing a strain on the ICU staff because of the rigorous care they require.
“We need to get more serious about social distancing and other measures, so we don’t have to ever go back to quarantining,” Dr. Bessel said.
STAY INFORMED
Get a coronavirus briefing six days a week, and a weekly Health newsletter once the crisis abates: Sign up here.
In Arkansas, the recent uptick in cases is likely due to a combination of expanded testing and community spread, state epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said. Rapid growth has occurred in Hispanic communities of three counties in recent days, with many cases associated with work in poultry-manufacturing plants. The state is also registering growth of confirmed cases in people under 19 years of age.
“We have seen an increase in community spread, but we’re able to identify it better,” Dr. Dillaha said.
Businesses such as restaurants have started to open in the state, with dine-in service limited to 33% capacity and other precautions, although the health department hasn’t identified much spread related to the openings, she said.
Illinois, one of the last states to start easing stay-at-home orders, has logged a decline in daily cases within the past two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins data. Daily hospitalizations and deaths have decreased, and the state seems to be on the other side of its epidemiological curve, said Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“We are reaping the benefits of all the hard sacrifices of all the people of Illinois,” she said, adding that she is keeping a close eye on the data as the state continues to reopen. “Every business that suffered and really endured, all of that made a difference.”
Write to Talal Ansari at Talal.Ansari@wsj.com and Brianna Abbott at brianna.abbott@wsj.com
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"some" - Google News
June 07, 2020 at 09:41PM
https://ift.tt/3eZO2Bw
California and Some Other States See Coronavirus Cases Rise - The Wall Street Journal
"some" - Google News
https://ift.tt/37fuoxP
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "California and Some Other States See Coronavirus Cases Rise - The Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment