Five days into July, 250,000 new coronavirus cases were reported across the United States, with no sign the numbers will get any better.
Ten states have already notched record single-day highs in the number of cases since the start of the month, according to the latest NBC News tally.
Florida hit that record twice during that time period, with 45,000 new cases. On the Fourth of July alone the state reported 11,4000 new cases, a grim number rivaling some of the worst days in New York state when it was a COVID-19 hotspot in April.
Half of the total 200,000 coronavirus cases in Florida were recorded in just the last two weeks.
Fearful that hospitals could be overwhelmed, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Monday ordered a shutdown of all restaurants, aside from take-out and delivery, and the closing of all ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, as well as short-term rentals.
“I am continuing to roll back business openings as we continue to see a spike in the percent of positive COVID-19 tests and an uptick in hospitalizations,” the mayor said in a statement. The order goes into effect Wednesday July 8.
Hotel pools, summer camps and day care centers will remain open, but with “strict capacity limits, requiring masks and social distancing of at least 6 feet,” Gimenez’s statement continued.
Gimenez still plans to reopen the beaches on Tuesday.
“But, if we see crowding and people not following the public health rules, I will be forced to close the beaches again,” the mayor warned.
Florida is far from alone.
Idaho has almost doubled its total case numbers in the last two weeks, going from 4,000 to nearly 8,000.
California has reported 27,000 new cases thus far in July. That does not include Los Angeles County, the largest county in the state, because it took a break from reporting any new coronavirus numbers over the three-day holiday weekend.
In addition, 33 states and territories have seen a greater that 25 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks compared to the previous two weeks.
There has been an uptick in coronavirus cases in every county across Mississippi. One of those cases is Mississippi House Speaker Phillip Gunn, who announced via Facebook that he had tested positive and was self-quarantining.
“I don’t really have very many symptoms and I feel fine,” Gunn said via Facebook on Sunday. “I am one of the fortunate ones.” He is not, however, the only state legislator to have tested positive.
