WASHINGTON • Coronavirus cases more than doubled in 14 American states last month, including in California, Florida and Texas.
Arizona recorded the biggest jump in cases for the month at 294 per cent, followed by South Carolina at 200 per cent and Arkansas at 179 per cent, a Reuters analysis on Tuesday showed.
Cases also more than doubled in Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.
Nationally, cases rose by at least 46 per cent and deaths increased by around 21 per cent.
While much of the world appears to be past the worst of the pandemic, the United States and a few other countries are still seeing huge daily spikes.
In the six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) first reported a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan, more than 510,000 people have died from Covid-19, including over 130,000 Americans.
A strong national response, stringent lockdowns and mandatory mask-wearing in public helped bring the pandemic under control in much of Asia and Europe. In the US, wearing masks has become a divisive political issue and many states began reopening businesses without having first met government health safety benchmarks.
In the past week, 21 US states reported rates of people testing positive for the virus above the 5 per cent level that the WHO has flagged as concerning.
Arizona has the highest rate in the country at 24 per cent.
Cases increased by less than 10 per cent last month in just four states - New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.
New York, once the epicentre of the US epidemic, saw cases rise by about 6 per cent last month - the lowest rate in the country - after strict lockdown and social distancing measures were imposed.
Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, a leading member of US President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, warned Congress on Tuesday that new coronavirus cases could more than double to 100,000 per day if the authorities and the public fail to take steps to suppress the pandemic.
"I'm very concerned and I'm not satisfied with what's going on, because we're going in the wrong direction," Dr Fauci testified to a Senate panel, demanding that Americans wear masks and avoid crowds.
Alarming spikes in new cases in southern hot spots Texas and Florida are driving the daily national total of new cases to more than 40,000 a day, and they need to be tamped down quickly to avoid dangerous surges elsewhere in the country, Dr Fauci stressed.
"Clearly we are not in total control right now," he said.
"I would not be surprised if it goes up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around."
Dr Fauci said he believed that some states were "skipping over some of the checkpoints" that assure safe reopenings of businesses and public spaces.
He also offered a blunt message to the nation's young adults who have engaged in "dangerous" behaviour - including congregating in bars, not wearing masks and not following social distancing guidelines.
"I think we need to emphasise the responsibility that we have, both as individuals and as part of a societal effort to end the epidemic - that we all have to play a part in that."
The head of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Robert Redfield, said it was "critical" that every American takes personal responsibility and "embraces the use of face coverings".
But the chairman of the panel, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, also pointed the finger at Mr Trump, saying the President had the power to end politicisation of mask-wearing that suggests "if you're for Trump, you don't wear a mask. If you're against Trump, you do".
"That's why I've suggested that the President occasionally wear a mask," Mr Alexander said. "The President has plenty of admirers, they would follow his lead... It would help end this political debate."
Mr Trump, who refuses to wear a mask at public events and in the past has mocked his rivals for wearing face coverings, has signalled he wants to move on from the coronavirus crisis and focus on his re-election campaign.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
