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 The 3,000 new infections reported in Wisconsin fanned fears that the
sheer number of new patients could overwhelm hospitals. Florida,
which has four times as many people as Wisconsin, reported 2,628 new
cases on Thursday.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers issued an emergency order easing
licensing rules in a bid to bolster the number of healthcare workers
able to deal with the mounting crisis.
"Our emergency department has had several instances in the past week
where it was past capacity and needed to place patients in beds in
the hallways," Bellin Health, which runs a hospital in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, said in a statement. Its intensive care unit has been
full, or nearly full, for a week, it said.
Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer at the Wisconsin
Department of Health Services, said the state's outbreak started in
younger people and has now spread through the community.
"Public gatherings of any kind are dangerous right now, more so than
they have been at any time during this epidemic," he told CNN on
Thursday.
Signs that the pandemic is getting worse in the Upper Midwest
abound. Wisconsin and North Dakota both reported a record number of
hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Thursday, while South Dakota also
reported a record number of new cases.
New cases of COVID-19 rose in 27 out of 50 U.S. states in September
compared with August, with an increase of 111% in Wisconsin,
according to a Reuters analysis.
In New York, which grappled with the world's most rampant outbreak
earlier this the year, officials said they were worried about
clusters of cases in 20 areas across the state, where the average
rate of positive tests rose to 6.5% from 5.5% the day before.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy encouraged
residents to download onto their smartphones a new voluntary contact-tracing app
launched on Thursday. The app, COVID Alert, uses Bluetooth technology to tell
users if they have recently been near someone who later tested positive for the
coronavirus.
Many of New York's 20 hot spots - half of which are in New York City - include
Orthodox Jewish communities. Cuomo said he talked to community leaders about
enforcing social distancing measures.
"A cluster today can become community spread tomorrow," Cuomo said on a briefing
call with reporters. "These zip codes are not hermetically sealed."
He implored local authorities to increase enforcement measures. "If they're not
wearing masks, they should be fined," Cuomo said.
Wisconsin health officials are urging residents to stay home and avoid large
gatherings ahead of Trump's weekend rallies in Janesville and Green Bay in the
run up to the Nov. 3 election.
An indoor Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June likely contributed to a
subsequent rise in cases there, city health officials have said.
Beyond the Midwest, western states are also facing spikes in coronavirus cases.
Montana on Thursday reported a record increase in cases for the second day in a
row and had a record number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen and Maria Caspani in New York and Lisa Shumaker in
Chicago; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Rosalba O'Brien)
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