Nine U.S. states have recorded record rises in COVID-19 cases over the last seven days, mainly in the Upper Midwest and West, where cold weather requires more indoor activities.
On Saturday alone, four states – Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin – saw significant rises in new cases, and nearly 49,000 new infections were registered nationwide, the highest on Saturdays in seven weeks, according to the Reuters study. Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming have all set new highs for cases last week.
Daytime temperatures are already in the 50s Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) in each of these nations. Health officials have known for a long time that cooler temperatures pushing people indoors might facilitate the spread of the virus.
Montana has recorded a record number of new cases for three out of the last four days and also has a record number of COVID-19 patients in its hospitals.
Wisconsin has set highs for new cases two out of the last three days and has announced a high hospitalization on Saturday. On average, 22 percent of the tests return positive, one of the highest in the world.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor ordered masks on Aug. 1, but Republican senators are endorsing a lawsuit that opposes the provision.
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin had the largest number of new cases per capita in the world.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is one of the famous Republicans who have been confirmed positive for coronavirus after President Donald Trump revealed that he had contracted the virus.
Owing to the rise in cases in the Midwest, nursing homes and assisted living facilities owned by Aspirus in northern Wisconsin and Michigan bar the bulk of guests as they did earlier this year.
Bellin Health, which operates a hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said last week that her emergency department had gone out of business at times and that physicians had to put patients in beds in the hallways.
The United States reported 42,600 new cases and 700 deaths on average every day, compared to 35,000 cases and 800 deaths in mid-September. Deaths are a latency predictor and appear to grow several weeks after incidents have risen.
Kentucky is the first Southern state to announce a record rise in cases within a few weeks. Governor Andy Beshear said the largest number of cases the state has seen since the pandemic began last week.
State health experts have not identified the reason for the increase but point to fatigue with COVID-19 precautions and students returning to schools and colleges. Over the past two weeks, Kentucky has registered almost 11,000 new cases and witnessed a 20 percent surge in hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients.
