The number of deaths due to COVID-19 increased by 1,029 Tuesday, the first day that daily deaths surpassed 1,000 since May.
The coronavirus has killed at least 134,312 people in the United States, according to COVID Tracking Project data. Current hot-spot states have seen climbing death tolls in the past week. Florida, for example, has seen a 14% rise in new deaths in the past week. Texas saw a 12% rise, Arizona saw an 8% rise, Louisiana saw a 22% rise, and South Carolina saw a 19% rise.
“Some areas of our country are doing very well, others are doing less well,” President Trump said during his press briefing Tuesday. “It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. Something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is.”
He said his coronavirus task force is in the process of developing a strategy to deal with record increases in cases and deaths “that’s going to be very, very powerful, we’ve developed as we go along.”
Los Angelenos are waiting for the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, to follow through on his promise to reinstate a citywide stay-at-home order.
Garcetti has warned for two weeks that the city is close to being placed under a second lockdown as California continues to break records with increasing daily coronavirus infections that have pushed the statewide total number of cases beyond 400,000. A Los Angeles Times case tracker recorded 11,554 cases on Monday, surpassing the previous record broken just one week ago when 11,142 coronavirus cases were reported. Los Angeles County has confirmed the highest number of COVID-19 cases by far, with 42,375.
The number of coronavirus cases in different parts of the U.S. was sometimes 2 to 13 times higher than the reported rates in the areas, according to new data from an antibody study using blood samples taken for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday.
“These data continue to show that the number of people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 far exceeds the number of reported cases,” said Dr. Fiona Havers, the CDC researcher who headed up the study.
Asymptomatic people who did not require medical care and did not undergo a diagnostic test unknowingly spread the virus throughout their communities. Earlier in the pandemic, only symptomatic patients were eligible for COVID-19 diagnostic tests, which exacerbated the issue of asymptomatic transmission. Top government infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci reiterated last month that asymptomatic people can easily spread the coronavirus to others and pushed for more coronavirus tests to be made available for people without symptoms to be tested.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell outlined the GOP’s plans Tuesday to craft another coronavirus economic relief package that will provide more than $100 billion to open schools, new aid for small businesses, and another round of direct payments to individuals and families. Senate Republicans also plan to fund treatment, testing, and a vaccine for the coronavirus, contradicting a push by some Trump administration officials to hold back on new funding for the CDC. McConnell also said the package will include lawsuit liability protections for businesses, schools, and healthcare facilities, backed up by new federal aid to help facilitate safe reopenings.
“The American job market needs another shot of adrenaline,” McConnell said. “Senate Republicans are laser-focused on getting American workers their jobs back. Our bill takes several specific incentives to hire and retain workers and turn the dials on those policies way up.”
Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans are just now beginning. Meanwhile, the $600-per-week increase to unemployment benefits is set to expire July 31, just as Congress will adjourn until after Labor Day. Democrats and Republicans have just 10 days to decide whether to extend the benefit boost.
U.S. Justice Department officials accused China on Tuesday of sponsoring criminal hackers who are targeting biotech firms around the world working on treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. An indictment unsealed in Spokane, Washington, showed that the Justice Department charged two former engineering students residing in China with hacking biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The indictment says the two men recently “researched vulnerabilities in the networks of biotech and other firms publicly known for work on COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing technology.”
The indictment does not indicate whether the alleged hacks were successful in obtaining vaccine research, nor does it name the companies allegedly hacked by the duo, but the list includes firms in California, Maryland, Washington state, Texas, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
Prosecutors said the men, at times, acted in their own self-interest, including one occasion when they demanded a ransom from a company in exchange for not releasing its private information. At other times, the hackers “worked with, were assisted by, and operated with the acquiescence of” the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of State Security.
