Sparked by new records in California, Florida and Texas, Wednesday marks the most recorded coronavirus cases in a single day in the United States.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University generally is not updated until the following morning, but official state-by-state data shows at least 37,000 new reported cases on Wednesday. That figure would make for the most cases reported in a single day, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The Atlantic’s COVID Tracking Project confirms a record of more than 38,000 US cases on Wednesday.
The three largest US states set new records on Wednesday:
California 7,149
Florida 5,508
Texas 5,489
While Arizona did not set a new record on Wednesday, it did see a record for hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.
The reported cases is only a snapshot of the spread in the US, as there is a lag time between the onset of cases and when they’re reported to state departments of health.
While President Donald Trump has suggested the rise in cases is due to an increase in testing, that alone does not explain the surge in cases in Florida, Texas and California.
“Testing of course means finding cases, that is why we test,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad, Chief Strategy Officer for Population Health at the University of Washington. “But the increase in cases that we report is adjusted for testing and in many places we see a rise of cases due to increased spreading of the virus and not testing. We see a rise in Florida, California, and Texas that are true increases in cases. In other states, like NY, for example, they tested about 60K and now their % positive is coming down.”
Tuesday marked the most recorded coronavirus cases in the US in nearly two months as cases dropped off in May amid stay at home orders. But with stay at home orders lifted throughout the US, cases have increased quickly.