US Sees Positive Development in Fight Against Coronavirus
New coronavirus cases in the U.S. dipped on Monday to a level not seen in roughly a month, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
According to its data, Monday showed 45,368 new cases, coming on the heels of Sunday’s total of 47,580 cases. New cases were last at this level on July 6, when 44,953 new cases were diagnosed.
In Florida, where cases had been spiking throughout much of July, about 5,000 new cases were reported Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times — the lowest number since mid-June.
The good news was tempered with sober advice from Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.
“This virus is still with us, and it is around the country, and we’re seeing these cases come not just in the United States but around the world,” he said, according to ABC News.
“That’s really the message we want the American people to know, that we have to take this seriously,” Hahn said. “We need to get these case numbers down.”
Cases were declining but then spiked again in July as new parts of the nation, mostly in the South and West, saw large increases in cases. As a result, many states that had loosened lockdown restrictions reimposed them in recent weeks. In many former hotspots, cases have declined.
In Navajo Nation, people travel 40+ miles for groceries. Thanks to a renewed interest in indigenous agriculture, they are staying home to farm, which has #coronavirus cases on a steady decline in an area that was formerly a #COVID19 epicenter. https://t.co/XaHUC2tFOn via @NPR
— FoodPrint (@foodprintorg) August 1, 2020
Some good coronavirus news for Ohio: New cases down below 1,000 for three straight days and positive rate in testing continues to decline to 5.4% (7-day moving avg.) when it was at 6.3 in recent weeks.
— Lucas Sullivan (@DispatchSully) August 3, 2020
The number of new coronavirus cases in Colorado dropped 18% last week, marking the first week-over-week decline since confirmed infections began increasing in the state a month-and-a-half ago. https://t.co/GCffQ4vF4J
— The Denver Post (@denverpost) August 4, 2020
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who decided to shut down bars when his state’s infections and deaths began to climb, said changes must stay in place for the long haul.
“We can quickly find ourselves back to where we were just a few weeks ago, a month ago, with significant increases if we do not maintain our vigilance, if we do not maintain our focus,” Newsom said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“This virus is not going away. It’s not just going to take Labor Day weekend off. It’s not going to take Halloween off, the holidays off,” the Democrat said.
During a White House briefing on Monday, President Donald Trump said that while lockdowns cannot remain in place forever, vigilance must.
“To that end, I urge all Americans to continue to socially distance, wash your hands, wear a mask when you cannot avoid crowded places, and to protect the elderly,” Trump said. “Very, very important — protect the elderly. It’s much different. Young children have very strong immune systems. We’ve learned how strong they are. But protect the elderly. The average age of those who succumb to the virus is 78 years old. That’s the average age.
“It’s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path toward producing the result that you want, or certainly not a viable path forward, and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent.
“As we’re seeing in foreign countries around the world where cases are once again surging — you have many places where we thought they were under control and doing a great job, and they are doing a great job, but this is a very tough, invisible enemy — lockdowns do not prevent infection in the future. They just don’t. It comes back. Many times, it comes back.
“The purpose of a lockdown is to buy time to build capacity, especially as it respects to — with respect to hospitals, learn more about the disease and develop effective treatments, as we did in the United States.”
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