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 Officials in New Jersey and New York, the hardest-hit states at the
outset of the U.S. outbreak, are trying to preserve progress in
curtailing spread of the virus in the face of a resurgence elsewhere
across the country, especially the South and West.
More than 47,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the two
northeastern states, accounting for more than a third of the
132,000-plus Americans killed by the virus, according to a Reuters
tally.
More than 60,000 new COVID-19 infections were reported across the
United States on Wednesday, the greatest single-day tally of cases
by any country since the virus emerged late last year in China. And
U.S. deaths rose by more than 900 for the second straight day, the
highest level seen since early June.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy unveiled an executive order
requiring face coverings outdoors where social distancing is not
possible, citing a rise in the state's coronavirus transmission
rate.
"It's about life and death," Murphy, a Democrat, said at a briefing.
Many states require masks in public indoor settings and recommend
them outside but have stopped short of mandating their use outdoors.
"I think that's the right thing to do," said Jordan Grant, 23, a
real estate accountant who expressed dismay at seeing people
congregating without masks. "It's what we should have been doing
months ago."
Republican state Senator Michael Doherty, however, accused Murphy of
"exploiting a public health crisis for power," calling the new mask
directive "oppressive."
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan for 1.1
million students in the nation's largest public school district to
return to classes in September. Pupils would alternate attending
school two or three days weekly and spend the remaining time at home
under the "blended learning" schedule, which requires state
approval.
'BACK TO SCHOOL'
Republican President Donald Trump, who has exhorted Americans to
return to their daily routines, threatened to cut off federal
funding to schools that fail to reopen on their normal schedule due
to the coronavirus outbreak.
States are chiefly responsible for primary and secondary education,
but the federal government provides some supplementary funding.
Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention would soon issue new back-to-school protocols after
Trump criticized current recommendations as too strict and costly.
But Pence stressed that CDC guidelines are advisory.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in 42 of the 50 states over
the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Meanwhile, the
percentage of people testing positive among those who are screened
has climbed above 5% - to levels health experts deem concerning - in
some two dozen states.
On Tuesday, the number of confirmed U.S. cases crossed the 3 million
mark, roughly equivalent to 1% of the population and about 25% of
all known infections worldwide.
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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who faces Trump in a Nov. 3
election, described the grim milestone as "awful" and "avoidable." He accused
Trump of putting the nation in a precarious spot by not ramping up testing and
deliveries of protective equipment.
The virus is sweeping through a number of heavily populated states, including
California and Texas, both of which reported their highest daily toll of
COVID-19 deaths to date. Twenty states have reported record increases in cases
this month.
GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S. - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA/0100B5K8423/index.html
PANDEMIC AND POLITICS
Houston, the largest city in Texas and the U.S. oil industry's hub, registered
more than 1,000 new cases on Tuesday, a single-day record, Mayor Sylvester
Turner tweeted on Wednesday, calling the spread "severe and uncontrolled."
Turner, a Democrat, ordered the cancellation of a Texas Republican Party
convention scheduled for July 16-18 in Houston, citing public health concerns.
In neighboring Oklahoma, Dr. Bruce Dart, the top health official in Tulsa, said
Trump's campaign rally at an indoor arena in the city last month likely
contributed to hundreds of new coronavirus cases over the past few days.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said she had seen no data to support
Dart's conclusions.
An outbreak at the Mississippi state Capitol in Jackson left 26 lawmakers and 10
others infected, prompting the governor to urge anyone who had contact with a
legislator to get tested, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported.
The surge has forced authorities to backpedal on moves to reopen businesses,
such as restaurants and bars, after mandatory closures reduced economic activity
to a virtual standstill in March and April and put millions of Americans out of
work.
In Arizona, one of the latest epicenters of the U.S. outbreak, rising infections
have swollen hospital admissions to the point where 91 percent of adult
intensive care unit beds were occupied, the state health department said.
GRAPHIC: Where coronavirus cases are rising in the United States - https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-TRENDS/dgkvlgkrkpb/index.html
(Reporting by Peter Szekely and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional
reporting by Maria Caspani, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt, Daphne
Psaledakis and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Paul Simao and Steve Gorman; Editing by
Howard Goller, Bill Berkrot, Cynthia Osterman and Gerry Doyle)
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