United States: outbreak of the epidemic in the southern states

More than 35,900 new cases of Covid-19 recorded for Wednesday alone in the United States. A near-record, since it is the second most important day in this statistic after the day of April 24 which recorded 36,400 cases. A surge of fever which seems to mark a new wave of the epidemic while the number of new contaminations had dropped at the beginning of the month. This time, the Covid-19 is developing more in the southern states of the country, leaving, to date, far behind the city of New York and its 31,232 dead. In nearly half of the states in the country, the contamination trend is on the rise, especially in the most populous states in the country: Florida, Texas and California.

However, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the country of 330 million inhabitants already has the heaviest record in terms of both the number of contaminations and deaths. This Thursday, June 25, nearly one in four proven cases of Covid-19 is in the United States – global contamination of 9.4 million for 2.3 million in the country. Ditto for the number of deaths, there are officially 482,923 on the different continents, including 121,979 in the United States.

Southern states in turmoil

Thus nearly half of the states are experiencing an outbreak of new cases, particularly in the south of the country. According to AFP, this new wave is accompanied by an increase in hospitalizations as well as the emergence of younger patients, particularly in Florida. In this state, a peak was reached on June 20 with more than 4,000 new cases detected in a single day. If the daily number of contaminations has decreased, it remains at a level not seen since mid-June: this Wednesday it reached 3,286 positive cases.

California, Texas, Arizona…

California is also failing to break the upward curve in the number of new cases that has begun since late March. Since mid-June, the most populous state in the country has experienced an acceleration in the number of confirmed daily cases and reached a peak of 6,712 new cases on Wednesday. Texas follows the same trend and also recorded a new record last Wednesday with 5,142 new cases. Arizona has also experienced a sharp acceleration in the number of contaminations since the beginning of June and reached a record on Wednesday with 3,779 confirmed cases in a single day.

This increase has prompted some states to modify their public health policy, in particular Florida where the governor, however a supporter of Donald Trump – skeptical of this virus – has threatened, reports AFP, to withdraw alcohol sales licenses from bars and restaurants that do not follow physical distancing rules. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott encourages people to wear the mask without making it compulsory: “Yes [NDLR : la progression de l’épidémie] is not contained within the next two weeks, it will spiral out of control.” He also put on the table a possible closure of businesses in the event of a worsening of the health situation. Same exasperation on the side of the governor of California who made it compulsory to wear a mask throughout the state.

To date, the dead are concentrated for the moment mainly in BosWash – an urban megalopolis stretching from Boston to Washington via New York City in particular -, the main urban areas of the Great Lakes (Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland), two of the three largest cities in Florida (Miami, Tampa), the surroundings of New Orleans in Louisiana, the main ‘Texan Triangle’ cities (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin) but also the southwestern area – southern California, southern Nevada, western New Mexico, northern and southern Arizona). Epidemiologist Rebecca Fischer, interviewed by AFP, believes that the peak of infections is still far away. Measures that limit the spread of the virus should “ideally” to be in place “the longest time possible“, she explains.

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