New Coronavirus Case Records Continue; Only 2 States See Decline

ACROSS AMERICA — New coronavirus case reports are increasing in most states.

More than half of states have seen a weekly spike of between 10 percent and 50 percent as of Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by CNN.

But two states, Missouri and Vermont, reported a 10 percent improvement in new case numbers over the same time frame.

For the first time since late July, the tally of newly reported coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 64,000 on Thursday and Friday. More than 70,000 new cases were reported on Friday alone, according to New York Times data. It's the highest daily number the nation has seen since July 24.

On Friday, 10 states reported single-day records.

This comes as a second coronavirus relief bill before the Nov. 3 presidential election is looking more and more unlikely.

A Tuesday deadline on negotiations has been set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday morning that she and White House Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must reach an agreement within 48 hours if there's any hope of getting something passed before the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Negotiations would still continue after Tuesday; but if there's no agreement by that time, nothing could get passed before the election.

"The 48 (hour deadline) only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do," Pelosi said.

Previously, the GOP-led Senate set a vote on a pair of coronavirus relief measures this week, both of which would provide financial aid to unemployed Americans as well as the country's small businesses.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Senate will vote Wednesday on a $500 billion relief package, The Hill reported. The measure — less than a third of the White House's most recent $1.8 trillion proposal — would include federal unemployment benefits and another round of small business assistance under the Paycheck Protection Program.

It also would include more than $100 billion for schools, and money for testing, contact tracing and vaccine development and distribution.

In addition to the $500 billion measure, the Senate will vote Tuesday on a stand-alone PPP proposal.

Both measures require 60 votes to pass. Democrats previously blocked a similar bill and are expected to do the same to the new GOP proposal, The Hill reported.

Meanwhile, as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases rises beyond 8 million, the severity of outbreaks in rural communities is crippling small hospitals and prompting health care workers to plead with residents to take extra precautions.

In addition to more than 8.1 million reported cases in the United States, the number of people who have died from the virus has climbed to more than 219,600.

Coronavirus testing is expected to become more widely available in the coming days as the federal government has begun shipping more than 100 million rapid tests to states to be used in public schools, assisted living centers and other new testing sites, according to the Associated Press.

But keeping track of the results and reporting them all to health agencies, which is a requirement, may come as a challenge.

“Schools certainly don’t have the capacity to report these tests,” said Dr. Jeffrey Engel of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “If it’s done at all, it’s likely going to be paper-based, very slow and incomplete.”

At least 679 new coronavirus deaths and 52,774 new cases were reported in the United States on Saturday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there have been an average of 56,210 cases per day, an increase of 28 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Sunday, 34 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 8.1 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of late Sunday evening, and more than 219,600 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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