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 If Florida were a country, it would rank fourth in the world for the
most new cases in a day behind the United States, Brazil and India,
according to a Reuters analysis.
Florida's daily increases in cases have already surpassed the
highest daily tally reported by any European country during the
height of the pandemic there. It has also broken New York state's
record of 12,847 new cases on April 10 when it was the epicenter of
the U.S. outbreak.
The latest rise was reported a day after Walt Disney World in
Orlando reopened with a limited number of guests who were welcomed
with a host of safety measures, including masks and temperature
checks.
Anti-mask activists in several states, including Florida and
Michigan, have organized protests against local mandates, arguing
that the measures infringe upon individual freedom.
Coronavirus infections are rising in about 40 states, according to a
Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the
prior two weeks. Nationally, the United States has broken global
records by registering about 60,000 new cases a day for the last
four days in a row, according to a Reuters tally. Hospitalizations
and positive test rates are also rising in Arizona, California,
Florida and Texas.
Florida reported a record amount of testing, with nearly 143,000
results announced on Sunday compared with an average of 68,000 for
the prior seven days.
(GRAPHIC - Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S., https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA/0100B5K8423/index.html)
TRUMP DONS MASK
Facing a battered economy as he seeks re-election in November,
President Donald Trump has pressured states to reopen shuttered
businesses and schools.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said on Sunday that her department
did not have its own safe reopening plans to promote, and each
school district and state must devise their own plans based on their
local coronavirus infection rates.
Health officials have pleaded with the public to wear masks to limit
the spread of the virus, but the issue has become politically
divisive in the United States unlike many other countries that have
seen far lower rates of infection and death.
Seven months into the pandemic, Trump wore a mask for the first time
in public when he visited a Washington D.C.-area military medical
center on Saturday. He had previously refused to wear a mask in
public or ask Americans to wear face coverings, saying it was a
personal choice.
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Many Americans still refuse to wear a mask, which health experts say help stop
transmission of the virus that has killed more than 134,000 Americans.
Anti-mask activists organized a protest on Saturday at a grilled cheese
restaurant and bar in Windermere, Florida, which is in Orange County about 12
miles (19 km) from Walt Disney World.
The restaurant, 33 & Melt, has become a focal point of tension after owner
Carrie Hudson said she was not requiring customers to wear masks. County
officials have mandated the use of masks in public since June 20.
During Saturday's protest, no customers wore face coverings inside the
restaurant. Agents from the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco
arrived during the rally and served Hudson with a warning, according to a video.
"This is a virus that is very well contained," said one of the demonstrators,
anti-mask activist Tara Hill. "Everyone is responsible for their own health care
decisions ... We want our choices respected as well."
In addition to a record 15,000 new cases on Sunday, more than four dozen
hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units are full due to a
surge in COVID-19 patients.
Hundreds were expected to attend a demonstration at the Michigan state capitol
on Sunday afternoon, according to a Facebook event, to protest against Governor
Gretchen Whitmer's order that everyone must wear a mask in public, except when
outdoors and able to maintain social distance.
Protesters were also planning to gather outside city hall in Springfield,
Missouri on Monday, where the city council was due to vote on a mask mandate in
response to rising cases and a more than fourfold increase in Greene County's
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last month.
(GRAPHIC - Where coronavirus cases are rising in the United States, https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-TRENDS/dgkvlgkrkpb/index.html)
(Reporting by Gabriella Borters in New York and Octavio Jones in Windermere,
Florida; Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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