U.S. Coronavirus Cases Hit Record Single-Day Total

A resurgence in coronavirus cases caused the United States to reach a sobering milestone Wednesday, wiping out two months of progress as infections hit grim new levels in pockets of the country.

More than 36,000 new infections were reported by state health departments on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post, surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25.

Texas, Florida and California led the way, with all three states reporting more than 5,000 new cases apiece.

Cases are also climbing rapidly among young adults in a number of states where bars, stores and restaurants have reopened — a shift that not only puts them in greater peril but poses an even bigger danger to older people who cross their paths.

In Oxford, Mississippi, summer fraternity parties sparked outbreaks. Also in the South, a cluster of hangouts near Louisiana State University led to at least 100 customers and employees testing positive for the virus, according to the Associated Press.

In the Midwest, an outbreak tied to a brewpub in East Lansing, Michigan, spread to 25 people ages 18 to 23. In Oklahoma City, church activities, fitness classes, weddings and funerals seeded infections among people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. In Iowa college towns, surges followed the reopening of bars.

The bottom line: Young people are going out again, many without masks, in what health experts see as irresponsible behavior.

"The virus hasn't changed. We have changed our behaviors," Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the Associated Press. "Younger people are more likely to be out and taking a risk."

Now authorities are worried older, more vulnerable people are next.

"People between the ages 18 and 50 don't live in some sort of a bubble," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt told the AP. "They are the children and grandchildren of vulnerable people. They may be standing next to you at a wedding. They might be serving you a meal in a restaurant."

READ: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surge Among Young People

The United States has the most infections and deaths by far in the world, with almost 2.37 million confirmed cases and nearly 122,000 virus-related deaths as of Wednesday afternoon.

While newly confirmed infections are declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week including Arizona, California, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma.

Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.

California reported over 7,100 new cases, an all-time high. Florida’s single-day count surged to 5,500 Wednesday, a 25 percent jump from the record set last week and triple the level from just two weeks ago.

In Texas, where shutdowns started lifting May 1, hospitalizations have doubled and new cases have tripled in two weeks.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told KFDA-TV that the state is facing a “massive outbreak” and might need new local restrictions to preserve hospital space.

"People got complacent," Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system, told the AP. "And it's coming back and biting us, quite frankly."

READ: 'We Are In Deep Trouble': U.S. Sees Coronavirus Resurgence

At the start of this week, 29 states and U.S. territories had showed an increase in their seven-day average of new coronavirus cases, The Washington Post reported. Nine states reported record average highs.

In response to the growing cases, leaders in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut issued "a joint travel advisory" for people coming in from states with a high infection rate.

Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said travelers from these states "must quarantine for 14 days" and that the advisory goes into effect at midnight.

READ: High-Infection State Travelers 'Must Quarantine:' Governors

Testifying before a House panel on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation's top infectious disease experts, called the new upward trend in cases "disturbing."

“We've been hit badly,” said Fauci, adding he is “really quite concerned” about rising community spread in some states.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges,” he said.

Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified along with Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Federal Drug Administration chief Dr. Stephen Hahn; and Adm. Brett Giroir, the head of the U.S. Public Health Service.

During his testimony, Fauci also said he is cautiously optimistic there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021.

This past weekend, the virus seemed to be everywhere at once.

Several campaign staff members who helped set up Trump's rally in Tulsa tested positive, as did 23 Clemson University football players in South Carolina.

“It is snowballing. We will most certainly see more people die as a result of this spike,” Houston Methodist Hospital's Dr. Boom told the Associated Press.

Boom also noted that the number of COVID-19 hospital admissions has tripled since Memorial Day to more than 1,400 across eight hospital systems in the Houston area.

Idaho is among states where leaders are scaling back reopenings. Health officials on Monday reinstated some restrictions in Ada County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, the Post reported. Nine days after progressing to Phase 4 of its reopening plan, the county — which includes the capital city of Boise — returned to Phase 3.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it took more than three months for the world to see 1 million confirmed infections but just eight days to see the most recent 1 million cases.

Worldwide, more than 9.2 million people have been confirmed infected, and close to a half-million have died, by Johns Hopkins' count.

“The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself," Tedros said. "It’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership."

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