If you were thinking that the Covid-19 pandemic was about over, think again.
But if you thought it was a bad idea that all those mask-free younger people were crowding together in pools and on beaches over the Memorial Day weekend, you were right.
The rate of Covid-19 coronavirus infections nationwide is on the rise again, particularly in states that have been most aggressive in relaxing rules and restrictions aimed at fighting the virus.
“In Texas, North and South Carolina, California, Oregon, Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and Arizona, there are an increasing number of patients under supervised care since the [Memorial Day] holiday weekend because of coronavirus infections,” reports the Washington Post.
“The spikes generally began in the past couple weeks and in most states are trending higher.”
Meanwhile, as Covid-19 continues to kill about 1,000 Americans every day, President Trump and his administration have had little to say about it.
“It’s been more than a month since the White House halted its daily coronavirus task force briefings,” notes Politico — although it’s true that those briefings were cancelled partly because of sharp criticism over Trump’s often fact-free bickering with his own health experts.
The Post has closely tracked the data nationwide, and says that since racing through big metro areas like New York City, Chicago and Detroit, “the highest percentages of new cases are coming from places with much smaller populations.”
As of Wednesday morning, just under 2 million Americans have contracted the virus, and more than 112,000 have died (nearly one-fourth of the world total), according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracker.
Some places, like Arizona — where tourist sites were packed on the holiday weekend — have seen a record number of virus-related hospitalizations, and, inevitably, a threatened shortage of places to put all the new patients.
The Post notes that as of Tuesday, Arizona reported 1,243 current hospitalizations, a nearly 50% jump since Memorial Day.” At the same time, more than three-quarters of all intensive care beds in Arizona were in use, according the state health department.
Texas “has reported two straight days of record-breaking coronavirus hospitalizations — highs that come shortly after the state kicked off the third stage of its reopening plan,” Politico reports.
The situation is similar in Arkansas, Mississippi, Utah and the Carolinas.
As states and major cities continue to lift lockdowns and re-open their economies, public health experts “fret that additional outbreaks are imminent,” the political website says, noting that some Democratic governors “defied their own states’ social distancing restrictions to join mass protests over police brutality … further raising public health risks.”
“The fear,” Politico says, “is that all the mixed signals will only confuse people, stoke public skepticism over the health threat and promote the belief the worst is over just as the outbreak enters a dangerous new phase.”
