Cases Now Surging In Midwest; Pence Praises Trump Response

ACROSS AMERICA — As southern states are finally starting to curb a recent spike in coronavirus cases, the latest data shows cases are now on the rise in most Midwest states.

Seven-day averages for new cases rose over the past week in the Dakotas, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa, according to tracking by The Washington Post. North and South Dakota experienced the biggest jumps, with average daily caseloads up 23 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

There are some exceptions, the Post notes. While other states reported marginal progress, in Wisconsin, daily case averages declined by about 6 percent over the previous week and fell by 10 to 20 percent in several other Midwestern states.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence praised President Donald Trump's response to the pandemic during a recent “Good Morning America” appearance. Pence said he “couldn’t be more proud” of Trump’s leadership.

Pence went on to say that if Democratic nominee Joe Biden had been in charge, the losses would have been worse.

Finally, health officials in several states are linking cases of coronavirus to the 10-day Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota, which drew hundreds of thousands of participants this month in spite of the pandemic.

At least 15 cases originating from rally attendees were identified in Minnesota, the New York Times reports. Seven more cases were identified in Nebraska, according to reporting from CNN.
Health officials in South Dakota this week said they had traced several cases to a popular bar along Sturgis’s main street, where photos showed thousands of people congregating without masks over the course of the rally.

The rally ended last Sunday, but health officials warned it will take time before the extent of associated outbreaks can be measured, since it can take days for symptoms to appear in infected people.

Also, another look at the U.S death toll at the hands of COVID-19 reveals what experts believe is a fuller — and more alarming — picture of the disaster and its toll on racial minorities.

As the coronavirus toll increases, deaths among people of color are rising far more than they are among whites.

According to an analysis by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the criminal justice system, Asian Americans have joined Blacks and Hispanics as the hardest-hit communities. Deaths in each group are up at least 30 percent this year compared with the most recent five-year average, the analysis found.

Deaths among Native Americans also rose more than 20 percent, though that is probably a severe undercount because of a lack of data. Deaths among whites were up 9 percent.

READ: Mounting US Deaths Reveal Toll On People Of Color

At least 1,143 new coronavirus deaths and 46,941 new cases were reported in the United States on Friday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there have been an average of 44,527 cases per day, a decrease of 18 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Saturday, 29 states remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen, a three-state decrease from Friday. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 5.6 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday night, and more than 176,300 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Globally, the world hit a grim coronavirus milestone Saturday with 800,000 confirmed deaths and close to 23 million confirmed cases.

Stay current on all the latest U.S. coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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