The coronavirus entered American life on a grand scale when Utah Jazz Center Rudy Golbert tested positive for the virus and the NBA shut down operations immediately. In the days, weeks and months since that night, a lot has happened, but not much has changed. Despite false claims from President Donald Trump and Twitter conspiracy theorists, the COVID-19 pandemic is very much alive and altering American society. In fact, things may soon be worse than they were in March and April.
On Thursday, the U.S. reported 75,049 new confirmed COVID-19 cases. If that figure holds, it is the second-highest confirmed COVID-19 case total since the pandemic began. Yesterday's report is only topped by the 77,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases experienced in 24 hours back in July.
Thursday's rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases is not new. Overage the last week, the country has averaged 62,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases per day. That is a 32% increase from the beginning of the month. Health officials in Colorado and Kentucky have reported single-day records of 1,300 and 1,470 confirmed coronavirus cases this month.
These recent reports run contrary to President Trump's statements on Friday claiming that the country was on the mend regarding the pandemic.
“It will go away and I say we’re rounding the turn. We are rounding the corner. It is going away,” he told Americans across the map.
Under the current administration, the country has reported nearly 8.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. In comparison, the U.S. has experienced more positive COVID-19 cases than Russia, Spain, Argentina, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom combined. Making matters worse, America has endured 65,000 more deaths than any other country. With the holidays and flu season fast approaching, health officials are not hopeful about the immediate future.
"People are going to be getting together with people that they feel comfortable with when the reality is there could be transmission happening,” Dr. Carlos Del Rio of Emory University said.
Tragically, the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects that the country will experience 150,000 more deaths by New Year's Day.
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