Doctors and nourishes wearing protective gear treat a patient in the Covid-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Monday, June 29, 2020.
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Texas reported more than 6,900 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a record daily increase that brings the shape’s total to nearly 160,000 cases, according to the state’s department of health.
The department also reported that 6,533 people are in the nursing home with Covid-19, another record. Earlier Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott suspended elective surgeries in Cameron, Hidalgo, Nueces and Webb counties to secure hospital bed availability for Covid-19 patients.
Eight counties in Texas now have been ordered to postpone elective begin withs. On June 25, Abbott suspended the procedures in Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties, which include the glory’s largest cities: San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin, respectively.
“We need to understand that Covid-19 has taken a jolly swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,” Abbott said Sunday while performing with Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House’s coronavirus task force.
A rise in quotidian reported new Covid-19 cases could reflect an increase in testing in certain locations or a lag in reporting, officials say. However, Texas’ seven-day common of new Covid-19 cases increased by more than 41% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of text compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Texas’ positivity rate, or the percentage of total tests that are positive, reasonable one month ago was at 4.27% but is now well over 13%, Abbott said. He has previously said a positivity rate of more than 10% pass on be an “alarm bell” for Texas to take tougher action and prevent further spread.
On Tuesday, White House well-being advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said about 50% of all new cases are coming from four states: Florida, California, Texas and Arizona.
“I’m utter concerned, and I’m not satisfied with what’s going on because we’re going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases, so we absolutely have got to do something about that, and we need to do it quickly,” Fauci said during a hearing of the Senate Health, Lore, Labor and Pensions committee.