Florida and the U.S. reported single-day records Friday in the number of reported coronavirus cases.
Florida, which health officials are predicting will be the nation's new COVID-19 epicenter, reported 8,942 new cases overnight, eclipsing Wednesday's record of 5,508.
Another Southern state, Tennessee, reported its largest single-day increase with 1,410, bringing its statewide total to 39,444 cases and 577 deaths.
Nationally, 40,000 new cases were reported overnight, according to The Associated Press, which broke the previous number of 36,400 set April 24, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
While the increase is believed to reflect, in part, expanded testing, experts say there is ample evidence the virus is making a comeback, including rising deaths and hospitalizations in parts of the country, especially in the South and West. Arizona, Texas, Florida and Arkansas are among the states that have been hit hard.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday morning that Lone Star State bars must halt in-person service at noon due to the COVID-19 spike.
Abbott also delayed lifting any more restrictions Thursday and reimposed a ban on elective surgeries in some places to preserve hospital space after the number of patients statewide more than doubled in two weeks.
In Florida, the state suspended on-premises consumption of alcohol at bars.
Nevada’s governor has ordered the wearing of face masks in public, Las Vegas casinos included.
Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. are down to about 600 per day, compared with about 2,200 in mid-April. Some experts doubt deaths will return to that level, in part because of advances in treatment and prevention but also because a large share of the new infections are in younger adults, who are more likely than older ones to survive.
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The virus is blamed for 124,000 deaths in the U.S. and 2.4 million confirmed infections nationwide, by Johns Hopkins’ count. But U.S. health officials said the true number of Americans infected is about 20 million, or almost 10 times higher. Worldwide, the virus has claimed close to a half-million lives, according to Johns Hopkins.
In the U.S., Arizona reported more than 3,000 additional infections reported Thursday, the fourth day in a week with a increase over that mark. The state postponed further efforts to reopen.
The numbers “continue to go in the wrong direction,” Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said.
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