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Friday, March 29, 2024

Arizona Declared World’s Biggest COVID-19 Hotspot As Deaths Top 2,000: Live Updates

Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.

Summary:

  • Arizona reports new cases
  • NYT names Arizona “world’s worst COVID-19 hotspot”
  • Florida reports record jump in deaths, hospitalizations
  • Goldman: 40% of US population lives in states where reopening has been rolled back or delayed
  • US single-day tally tops 60k again
  • At least 5 states reported record single-day cases on Wednesday
  • Global total tops 12 million
  • 7-day average death rate creeps higher
  • Tokyo, Hong Kong report single-day highs of new cases
  • India reported 22.7k new cases
  • Victoria reports another 165 new cases
  • Beijing slams US over WHO pullout

* * *

Update (1157ET): Arizona has released its latest number. Confirmed cases rose by 4,057 to a total of 112,671, the state Department of Health said Thursday (remember, these figures are reported with a day lag). Further details of the daily update revealed that COVID-19-related hospitalizations increased by 16 to 3,437 as of Wednesday , a 12th straight record high.

75 Arizonans died, pushing the state’s death toll above 2k.

The market didn’t like these numbers, apparently.

Adult intensive care unit beds in use by all patients in the state edged lower from 91% on Tuesday to 89% on Wednesday.

Here’s more from the state’s dashboard:

The positivity rate tumbled to 11.5% on Thursday, well below the nearly 30% rate the state reported yesterday.

As states cleared a rumored weekend backlog yesterday, at least five states – Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia – set single-day records for new infections on Wednesday, per the NYT.

Additionally, the NYT this morning declared Arizona the world’s biggest “hot spot”, claiming the state has the largest infection rate (often represented by the variable “R”) in the world.

The NYT ranked Arizona No. 1, with about 3,300 cases per 1 million in population, with Florida (2,700) and South Carolina (2,300) following. Bahrain (2,200) took the No. 4. spot.

* * *

Update (1040ET): Florida just suffered its deadliest day yet, health officials reported Thursday.

While the state reported 8,935 new cases (+4%) on Thursday, the number of new deaths hit yet another single-day record with 120 new deaths, 7 deaths higher than the prior record of 113 reached back in early May.

The state also added 411 new hospitalizations. The previous high for new hospitalizations was 400 people back in mid-May. About 17,500 people have had to seek hospitalization because of the virus so far.

The positivity rate in the state hit 18.4%, up from 14.1% in the prior day.

Here’s a rundown of the state’s latest totals for cases, deaths, tests and hospitalizations.

* * *

Update (0830ET): A team of analysts from Goldman Sachs wrote in a note sent out to clients that 40% of America’s population lives in a state that has rolled back its reopening plans.

The coronavirus situation in Arizona continues to worsen with new confirmed cases per day continuing to grow on the back of still-growing prevalence of COVID-like symptoms. Hospital capacity in the state is diminishing further. In other states that have high new case counts and fall short on other gating criteria, such as South Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada, hospital and ICU capacity looks slightly better but is still below recommended levels.

More states continue to put their reopening plans on hold. Over the past few days, Connecticut, Ohio, and Washington have delayed reopening plans or placed reopening on hold. States with over 40% of the population have now put reopening on hold, and states with another 30% have already reversed part of their reopening.   

Even states that have their outbreaks under control are rolling back measures as a precaution.

States are increasingly putting their reopenings on hold. Over the past few days, state officials in Connecticut, Ohio, and Washington delayed planned reopening measures or explicitly put reopening on hold. States containing over 40% of the population have now put reopening on hold, and states with another 30% have increased restrictions. Several state governors have also issued new executive orders instituting specific social distancing and other requirements. In Washington, these practices are required “until there is an effective vaccine, effective treatment or herd immunity.”   

Goldman illustrated the trend of pausing the economic reopening across the country.

The latest state tracker put together by the team reflects all of yesterday’s near-record numbers.

The tracker also reflects the larger numbers of deaths we’ve seen over the last two days.

* * *

Wednesday was another brutal day for the US during the global coronavirus outbreak as all of the worst hit states in the sunbelt produced new single-day records ranging from the highest 7-day positivity rate (Florida) to new records for deaths (Texas), single-day cases (California) and hospitalizations (Arizona, Florida, Texas etc).

After the US reported more than 60k new cases on Tuesday for the first time, the country repeated that feat on Wednesday, essentially tying its record number from the prior day.

But as the COVID tracking project points out, the 7-day average for deaths is “creeping back up” after two days of deaths near 1,000 (on Monday, the US reported fewer than 500 deaths for the entire country).

As deaths continue falling in New England, the sun belt has more than compensated for it.

As we noted, the US also topped 3 million cases yesterday.

So far on Thursday, the bad news out of the US has apparently carried over to Asia, as Hong Kong and Tokyo both reported new single-day records of new cases, as new outbreaks in both territories have come roaring back in recent weeks. Both areas are closely watched bellwethers of the outbreak in East Asia.

Tokyo confirmed 224 new infections on Thursday, its  largest single-day tally yet. While Tokyo has focused its virus suppression efforts on nightlife districts, more mundane places like diners and – of course – nursing homes have seen several outbreaks.

The city’s mayor has said there are no plans to reinstate the state of emergency that was lifted in Tokyo last month.

Hong Kong health officials have warned of a third wave of coronavirus infections after the city recorded 23 new cases in two days. Social distancing measures in HK were largely lifted over the past two months as the city’s cases dwindled. An outbreak at a nursing home in Kowloon has contributed 8 infections to today’s total – four residents and four staff tested positive, on top of one resident who tested positive yesterday.

India reported 22,752 new cases, up slightly from 22,252 yesterday, bringing India’s virus total to 742,417. The death toll has jumped to 20,642, up 482.

Meanwhile, as tensions with Beijing intensify, with the White House mulling new retaliatory measures ranging from an assault on the HKD currency peg to barring the popular social media app TikTok, Beijing hurled a few rhetorical rocks Thursday morning when Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian slammed the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw was “another demonstration of the US pursuing unilateralism, withdrawing from groups and breaking contracts.”

The WHO is “the most authoritative and professional international institution in the field of global public health security,” Zhao said at a briefing Wednesday, adding that the US departure would hurt the developing world, the AP reports – contrasting America’s WHO withdrawal with President Xi’s promises of forgivable or zero-interest loans and bundles while supplying the developing world with the vaccine.

In Australia, Victoria, the worst-hit Australian state, recorded another 165 case, as an outbreak at a Melbourne high school emerged as the largest cluster in the country. Queensland state also closed its border to people fleeing a six-week lockdown in Melbourne. In addition to the lockdown, Victoria has effectively sealed its borders, while neighboring New South Wales has also shut its border with Victoria.

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