The US is now at 6 million covid19 cases and 183,255 deaths!

Woohoo! We're #1!

https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/coronavirus-d3-us-map-20200312/table.html


6 Million Coronavirus Infections Now Confirmed In U.S., A Country In Limbo
August 31, 202012:28 PM ET

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/31/907847934/6-million-coronavirus-infections-now-confirmed-in-u-s-a-country-in-limbo

Fewer than eight months ago, the U.S. had yet to experience its first confirmed case of a deadly disease that was sweeping through China and threatening to go global. Today, more than 6 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus and some 183,000 have died from it, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

And while 6 million is the number of confirmed cases in the U.S., experts warn that it is an undercount. Epidemiologists said tens of millions more cases have not been recorded. In June, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, estimated that for every case reported, there were 10 other infections.

Although the numbers of COVID-19 deaths each day have declined slightly in recent weeks, the U.S. continues to see about 42,000 new cases daily. Several states, including Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Hawaii, have reported a surge in new cases in recent days.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said the numbers are concerning.

"August should have been a slow month. We should have seen infection levels come down in July and August. They didn't. We saw an epidemic cross over the Sun Belt, and we saw infections actually increase," he told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday.

Still, he said there are some positive trends: a decline in case numbers and hospitalizations.

But Gottlieb warned that the months ahead will be challenging: "As we head into September and October, kids back to school, people start to return to work, we're likely to see infections start to go up again."

[continued]