ACROSS AMERICA — The UnitedHealth States came just short of breaking its single-day record for new coronavirus cases, reporting more than 73,400 new confirmed illnesses as the country headed into the weekend Friday. The number signals that infection rates show no signs of slowing.
The current single-day record, set on July 16, is 75,697 cases, according to a New York Times database. Since June 24, the seven-day average has more than doubled, from 31,402 to more than 66,100 on Friday.
Friday was also the fourth consecutive day with more than 1,100 deaths reported.
As the number of cases climbs, so does the number of hospitalizations. On Friday, the number of people known to be hospitalized with the coronavirus in the United States was 59,670, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
In Starr County, Texas, the situation is so dire that Pentagon officials sent Army and Navy personnel to a county hospital and other medical centers to provide support. State and federal officials have also sent morgue trailers, ventilators, testing teams and surgical masks to the Rio Grande Valley.
Meanwhile, a $600 weekly federal payment that provides additional aid to Americans unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic will expire next week. However, talks in Congress — who spent the week negotiating an additional stimulus package that would aid cash-strapped Americans — came to an abrupt halt Friday as the White House and Senate Republicans struggled to find ways to scale back the enhanced unemployment program in its current form.
Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said reaching an agreement could take several weeks, The Washington Post reported, a timeline that could potentially leave more than 20 million unemployed Americans vulnerable and without aid.
As of Saturday evening, the U.S. had surpassed 4.1 million coronavirus cases and had reached 146,100 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
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