Health and Healthcare

Bing COVID-19 Tracker 7/1/2020 (7:06 AM): Texas Hammered, Australia Very Low Numbers

24/7 Wall St. Staff

Published: July 1, 2020 7:06 am

According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 10,450,628, after a one-day surge of 181,842. The figure was much higher than the day before. The World Health Organization has warned these numbers will continue to rise rapidly.

For weeks, the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the rest of Europe had decreasing numbers of new cases and deaths, while the figures picked up in Russia, India, Brazil, Peru and Chile. This is no longer true, particularly due to an extremely large surge in the U.S. cases. They rose by a near-record 41,875 yesterday, which is 23% of the world’s total increase for the day. That surge has gotten worse during the past several days as the disease has moved from the badly battered Northeast and Michigan and Illinois to states in the south and west.

Active cases worldwide are up to 4,603,000, and they are 44% of the total of global confirmed cases. The recovered case count is 5,336,996, which is up by 127,187. The positive difference between the numbers of recovered cases and active cases worldwide continues to show improvement. It has moved above 700,000 for the first time, one of the few good signs as the pandemic continues.

Global fatal cases have hit 510,632, a very sharp increase of 6,287 from the day before. The increase per day has moderated. However, at the current pace, the figure still could move above 600,000 well before the end of July.

As noted, the acceleration of the spread of the disease worldwide is because of an explosion of new cases in America. The increase in confirmed cases there has been by more than 30,000 in each of the past few days and jumped by over 40,000 on three of those days. Several large states are responsible for the U.S. swell, including the three largest by population: California, Texas and Florida. These three states have about 26% of the U.S. population total. Increases are not isolated to them though. The numbers also are rising quickly in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Anthony Fauci, the senior infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health, said the rise in confirmed cases could rise to a devastating 100,000 a day, which is well over twice the current rate.

Total confirmed cases in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, have reached 2,679,961, after rising by 41,875 in the past day. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) commented that the actual U.S. confirmed case figure may be above 20 million and many of these people have no symptoms. The official U.S. confirmed cases count is 26% of the world’s total.

Active U.S. COVID-19 cases number 1,725,488, and recovered cases have reached 825,781, a one-day gain of 14,686. It remains a bad sign that the active case count is so much higher than that of recovered ones. American coronavirus fatalities have hit 128,692, or 589 higher, as the pace continues to accelerate.

One theory suggests that deaths will pick up after confirmed cases rise sharply. Between when a person becomes infected and when serious symptoms arise is a lag of as much as two weeks. The number of asymptomatic cases in America may be well into the millions as well. That means much of the spread is hard to track.

Texas Hammered by Cases in Harris and Dallas Counties

Texas has quickly moved into fourth place among states based on the number of confirmed cases. The count added 6,975 to total 159,986. The state is well on its way to overtake third-place New Jersey, which has 171,667 confirmed cases, a gain of 395. That would put Texas behind only California with its 222,917 cases, after rising 6,367, and New York State, with 393,454 confirmed cases, up 915.

Texas COVID deaths rose by 21 yesterday to 2,424.

The trouble in Texas is concentrated in the counties that are home to Houston and Dallas. Harris County, where Houston is located, is the third-largest county in America, with a population of 4,698,619. Dallas County ranks eighth at 2,637,772.

Harris County has confirmed cases of 30,729, which is up by 1,453. Five new fatalities bring that total to 376. Local officials have voiced concern that they soon could run out of ICU beds. Dallas county has 20,737 confirmed cases, a gain of 572 in a day. COVID deaths stand at 353, an increase of one. Between them, the two counties have a third of all confirmed cases in the state.

Australia’s 104 Deaths

Australia’s figures are extraordinarily low. It has only 7,834 confirmed cases, after adding 69. The government says active cases number only 693, against recovered cases of 7,037. Only 104 deaths from the disease were reported.

The low numbers are credited to the very early lockdown of the nation and a policy that allows almost no air travel into the country. Australia essentially isolated itself from the rest of the world, a move almost unprecedented among developed nations.

Even as Australia began to “open up,” any increase in COVID-19 cases has triggered rapid new lockdowns.