Coronavirus: US on high alert as coronavirus cases surge

The US is facing a stunning new spike in coronavirus cases, recording the highest level of daily infections since April.

Healthcare workers take cover from the rain at a COVID-19 testing site in Houston on Thursday (AEST). Picture: AP

The US is facing a startling rise in coronavirus cases, recording the highest level of infections since April as some states move to delay plans to reopen.

The steep spike in cases across the south and west of the country has thrown into doubt hopes for economic and social recovery in many parts of the US.

The number of new coronavirus cases topped 36,000 on Wednesday, the third-highest daily number recorded during the pandemic and only just behind the record of 39,000 in April. A week ago, the average daily number of new cases was about 20,000.

“There’s no question that the increase we’re seeing in parts of the US is a real epidemiological uptick,” said Caroline Buckee, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

More than 122,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 from more than 2.37 million infections.

Cases are rising in 33 states, compared with 21 states earlier this month, at a time when it was hoped warmer summer weather would help slow infection rates.

The setback comes at a time when Americans are seeking to ­return to a semi-normal life by ­frequenting restaurants, shops and gyms — activities that have contributed to the new outbreak.

“People got complacent,” said Marc Boom, chief executive of the Houston Methodist hospital system. “And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly.”

Some of the hardest-hit states include Florida, Arizona, California, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina, all of which recorded relatively low levels of infection in the early stages of the pandemic when the centre of the virus was in New York and its surrounding states in the northeast of the country.

Three of those states — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — on Thursday (AEST) said travellers arriving from the worst-­affected southern states would have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

“We did a full 180 degrees,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “We went from the highest cases, the highest viral transmission rates, to some of the lowest rates in the country.

“We also have to make sure the virus doesn’t come on a plane again … we learned that lesson.”

Death rates in the US have fallen from their peak of above 2500 a day to an average of about 600, ­although the fresh rise in infections is likely to push the death rate higher several weeks from now.

The EU is considering recommending that member nations ban Americans from entering to protect themselves from the higher infection rates in the US. The EU has only 15 cases per 100,000 ­people compared with 107 per 100,000 in the US.

Mr Trump has avoided commenting on the rise in new cases and did not mention it during a meeting at the White House with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The spike in new infections has caused some governors to delay or reconsider plans to further loosen coronavirus restrictions. North Carolina has ordered people to wear face masks in public and ­delayed the next phase of reopening until next month. California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would consider introducing more stringent restrictive measures if the virus continued to spread. Both California and Florida recorded a record number of daily cases — 7000 and 5500 respectively — while the number of hospitalisations in Texas hit a new high.

The increases came a day after the country’s top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned the US was in the grip of a ‘‘a disturbing surge of infection”.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia