US coronavirus deaths surpass 140,000 as outbreak worsens in Florida where cases surge for the fifth day in a row and counties in Texas and Arizona are forced to use refrigerated trucks as morgues
US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 140,000 on Saturday as cases continued to rise in 42 out of 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters tally.
Since late June, the US has seen a resurgence in new cases and now, six weeks later, deaths have also begun rising, according to a weekly Reuters analysis of state and county data.
America is losing about 5,000 people to the virus every week. By contrast, neighboring Canada has reported total deaths of 8,800 since the pandemic started.
In just one week, the US records about as many deaths as the 5,600 lives Sweden has lost since the pandemic began earlier this year.
The virus has claimed over 140,000 US lives total since the pandemic started, and Florida, California, Texas and other southern and western states shatter records every day.
US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 140,000 on Saturday as cases continued to rise in 42 out of 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters tally
Florida, which is becoming one of the hardest-hit states, reported over 12,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fifth day in a row the state has announced over 10,000 new infections, even as President Donald Trump pledged that the virus was coming under control
Florida, which is becoming one of the hardest-hit states, reported over 12,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fifth day in a row the state has announced over 10,000 new infections, even as President Donald Trump pledged that the virus was coming under control.
In the hardest-hit US counties, officials are running out of places to store bodies as their morgues fill up.
Arizona's Maricopa County, home to the state's largest city, Phoenix, is bringing in 14 coolers to hold up to 280 bodies and more than double morgue capacity ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus fatalities, officials said on Thursday.
In Texas, the city of San Antonio and Bexar County have acquired five refrigerated trailers to store up to 180 bodies.
The appearance of such mobile morgues has fed the sense in some Southern states that the pandemic appears to be spinning out of control.
Despite record levels of new cases nationwide, the Trump administration is pushing for school to reopen in a few weeks and resisting a federal mandate to wear masks in public (Texas testing pictured)
Arizona's Maricopa County, home to the state's largest city, Phoenix, is bringing in 14 coolers to hold up to 280 bodies and more than double morgue capacity ahead of an expected surge in coronavirus fatalities, officials said on Thursday. A test site in Tuscon is pictured
Despite record levels of new cases nationwide, the Trump administration is pushing for school to reopen in a few weeks and resisting a federal mandate to wear masks in public.
Trump defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in an interview broadcast on Sunday, including his statement that there were only embers of the virus popping up around the country.
'We have embers and we do have flames. Florida became more flame-like, but it's going to be under control.'
Trump on Fox News Sunday repeated his assertion that the virus will eventually disappear.
'I'll be right eventually,' he said. 'It's going to disappear and I'll be right.'
Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have warned cases and deaths could rise this autumn and winter.
Nearly all 20 forecasting models used by the CDC project rising deaths in the coming weeks.
Throughout the US, every metric to measure the outbreak is going in the wrong direction - rising cases, deaths, hospitalizations and positivity rates of test results.
More than 3.7 Americans have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 140,119 people have died
At least 14 states have reported record coronavirus hospitalizations so far in July, including Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Texas.
Trump said he did not agree with CDC Director Robert Redfield that this fall and winter will be one of the most difficult times in American public health, as hospitals deal with the seasonal flu on top of COVID cases.
'I don't know and I don't think he knows,' Trump said.
Trump also called Dr Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious diseases expert, 'a little bit of an alarmist'.
Fauci has warned that cases could soon top 100,000 a day if Americans do not come together to take steps necessary to halt the spread of the virus.
The country is averaging 60,000 new cases a day and reported a record one-day increase of 77,299 on Thursday.
US coronavirus deaths surpass 140,000 as outbreak worsens in Florida where cases surge for the fifth day in a row and counties in Texas and Arizona are forced to use refrigerated trucks as morgues
![US coronavirus deaths surpass 140,000 as outbreak worsens in Florida where cases surge for the fifth day in a row and counties in Texas and Arizona are forced to use refrigerated trucks as morgues]()
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July 20, 2020
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