The United States just reported 36,000 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday.
This number surpasses the previous single day record of 34,203 that was set back on April 25th.
This means that we are now seeing more coronavirus infections right now then we were during the peak of the first wave.
Three states had the highest number of new cases and those include: Texas, Florida, and California — three states with massive populations.
According to CNN, Arizona is seeing the highest number of new cases per capita.
“Arizona added about 2,742 new cases per day over the seven days that ended on June 23. Adjusted for population, that’s about 38 new cases per 100,000 people per day.”
Testing has increased since April 25 so you have to take into consideration that the number of new cases has been affected by the total number of new tests happening.
The problem is that the increase in infection rates in some states has been higher than the increase in testing.
In addition, a higher percentage of people are testing positive indicating that there is more spread.
And finally, we are starting to see ICU departments getting swamped once again.
For example, it’s reported that ICU departments in Houston are at 90+% capacity.
It really seemed like we had the coronavirus figured out during May as we saw the total number of daily cases decrease but it is clear that we underestimated how quickly cases would begin to rise again.
Based on numbers like the Arizona 38 new cases per 100,000 people per day, the odds of someone contracting coronavirus are still very low.
And that number is still below the peak of new cases per capita that New York had with 51 new cases per 100,000 people per day.
But still, you can’t ignore that it is somewhat scary that we have surpassed the peak of the first wave and that as a nation we don’t seem to have a clear and collective plan on how to keep this virus in check.
So try to stay out from public areas as much as necessary, wash your hands, wear a mask (smartly), and hopefully these hotspot states can get things under control pretty quickly.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
