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By Lisa Shumaker
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(Reuters) – Coronavirus cases spiked in Arizona and Florida on Wednesday, a day after those states and four others reported record daily increases of new infections.
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Florida reported over 2,600 new cases on Wednesday and Arizona more than 1,800 – the second-highest daily increase for both states.
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Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas all reported record increases in new cases on Tuesday.
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COVID-19 hospitalizations are also rising or at record highs. Unlike spikes reported in new infections, hospitalizations cannot simply be attributed to increased testing.
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In Arizona, 83% of intensive care beds are occupied, a record high, according to a state website https://azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/covid-19/dashboards/index.php.
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In Florida, some of the increase has been linked to reopened bars, where people anxious to get out after months of seclusion crowded together indoors, making for easy virus transmission.
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Texas has also pointed to bars as one cause of its current outbreak. In Oregon, over 200 new cases are tied to events at a single church.
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Oklahoma, where cases are rapidly rising, is bracing for President Donald Trump to hold an indoor rally on Saturday. The virus spreads more efficiently in crowded enclosed spaces.
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Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday said officials were considering other, possibly outdoor, venues for the Tulsa event. Pence pushed back against talk of a second wave of infections, citing increased testing.
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In New York, which had been the epicenter and hardest hit of the U.S. epidemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo touted his state\\\’s success story on Wednesday.
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“We once again have demonstrated that we\\xe2\\x80\\x99ve gone from the worst infection rate in the country to the best infection rate in the country,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing.
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More than 2.1 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States and over 116,000 have died from COVID-19, by far the most in the world.
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(Open https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser for a Reuters interactive)
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(Reporting by Brendan O\\\’Brien in Chicago and Peter Szekely in New York; Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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