At least 22 states are reporting a surge in new COVID-19 cases, more than doubling the number from last Monday when just nine states reported a rise in new coronavirus infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and reported by CNN.
Most of these new cases are in the heartland and the Midwest. Kentucky and Wisconsin have both reported a spike in positivity rates, with the latter reporting one of the highest positivity rates in the country, higher than 16%. Earlier this week Wisconsin’s governor, Tony Evers declared a new public health emergency, because the state “is experiencing unprecedented, near-exponential growth, of the pandemic.”
Over 200,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, making COVID-19 the second leading cause of death in the United States this year after heart disease.
Asked about the country reaching this grim new milestone, Trump told reporters:
“I think if we didn’t do it properly and didn’t do it right, you’d have two and a half million deaths.”
He later mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask at a rally in Pennsylvania later in the evening.
