Coronavirus: 1,592 deaths in 24 hours in the United States, heaviest toll since mid-May

1,592 additional deaths between Monday evening and Tuesday evening. This heavy daily toll had not been reached in the United States for two and a half months. Johns-Hopskins University has also identified more than 60,000 new cases of coronavirus contamination in the country.

However, the scientific consensus is that the wave of deaths follows that of infections by three or four weeks. The death curve should therefore follow the explosion of new contaminations. Because after having experienced an improvement towards the end of spring, the United States have seen the epidemic start to rise again since the end of June, particularly in the south and west of the country.

Florida worries

The total number of cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in the United States now exceeds 4.34 million, and the country deplores more than 149,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Two weeks ago, new infections diagnosed every 24 hours exceeded 60,000 for twelve consecutive days (including three days to more than 70,000). Florida is of particular concern. With 186 deaths in one day on Tuesday, it exceeded 6,000 total deaths. Along with California, it is the current epicenter of the epidemic.

The day before, Florida reported a record increase in deaths with 191 people in 24 hours, and the contamination of 9,230 new people.

Although the death toll from the epidemic in Florida has more than doubled in a month, the state still welcomes tourists and most businesses remain open. Washington, by allowing bars to serve their customers again on June 5, had excluded Florida, but local authorities will begin discussions with the owners of the bars at the end of the week to consider their reopening.

Mayors in Miami and other hard-hit areas are demanding masks, but Governor Ron DeSantis refuses to make them mandatory. The Republican, close to President Donald Trump, is focusing on supplying hospitals with remdesivir, a treatment with modest results. He received Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday to discuss the progress of laboratories seeking a vaccine, but he does not address the issue of masks. And he only commented once on the slowness of the tests, pointing the finger at the responsibility of laboratories.

Last week we secured over 10k more vials of Remdesivir to help treat # COVID19 patients. This is in addition to our week 3 allocation of 20k vials. Florida will have received more than 81k vials this month as we continue to provide this critical treatment to our hospitals.

It was great having Vice President @Mike_Pence and others in Florida today at @UMiamiMedicine to discuss the latest progress on a # COVID19 vaccine and the efforts the @RealDonaldTrump Administration is taking to ensure that our state has everything we need. Thank you @VP! https://t.co/Edm9UfmKad

It took Gemma García, a Spanish journalist, 11 days to receive the positive result of her screening test carried out at the end of June in Miami. During this time, she was "not isolated 100%", she confides, while ensuring to have "always respected social distancing".

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“When I received the positive result, I obviously placed myself in quarantine and contacted all the people with whom I had been in contact,” said this 53-year-old woman. All of them have tested negative.

Testing and tracing

The country's two main labs, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, have since announced that the U.S. Medicines Agency has allowed them to perform group testing in an effort to save time. They analyze several samples at the same time, which are not re-analyzed individually until a test group turns out positive.

The slowness of tests in Florida makes it ineffective there to follow up contacts of infected people, a tool that has been proven in other countries to contain the pandemic. Neither Gemma García nor the fifteen people she invited to be tested after having tested positive were contacted by a "tracing" agent.

Florida health officials say they employ 1,600 of them. A figure far below, in view of its 21 million inhabitants, recommendations in this area.

Visitors flocked to the coast's sandy beaches in May and June, when the virus appeared to be under control. But in three weeks, everything has changed. Hospitals are now short of beds, some intensive care units are overwhelmed. The Florida authorities were "just not ready," Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber denounced on July 10 on MSNBC. And to worry: "If we cannot locate positive people and those with whom they have been in contact, we ultimately allow the virus to spread freely."