- Coronavirus cases have hit a record low in the US as a whole, which is welcome news after the country endured months of the pandemic — though a new analysis has found that a handful of states are nevertheless experiencing record coronavirus deaths.
- The analysis comes from USA Today, which found that three states in particular are seeing this rise: North Dakota, Kentucky, and Missouri.
- Overall, more than 189,000 people in the US have now died from coronavirus.
Let’s start with some good news, because this is some of the best coronavirus news we’ve had for a while.
The number of new cases of the COVID-19 virus in the US has fallen below 25,000, according to the latest daily total from Johns Hopkins University. That’s the lowest number of new daily cases in about three months, which is welcome news indeed as we head into the critical fall and winter months when flu season will complicate efforts to fight the coronavirus. Drill down into the data, though, and as you might guess, there are still plenty of causes for concern — such as the fact that a new analysis shows coronavirus deaths rising at an alarming rate in three states, in particular.
The analysis comes from USA Today and uses Johns Hopkins data to look at coronavirus death trends through Saturday of the past week. What that analysis reveals is the record number of deaths occurring in North Dakota, Kentucky, and Missouri.
Per the newspaper, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear described the coronavirus pandemic in recent days as the “challenge of our lifetimes,” adding that Kentucky needs to do better in its fight against the virus. This past week was also the second in a row in which the Bluegrass State set a new record based on the number of positive coronavirus cases — 4,742, up from 4,503 one week prior.
“We’re trying to keep our businesses open and get our economy to bounce back,” Beshear said in a written statement. “We’re going to get our kids back in school later this month. We’re trying to get high school sports up and going and keep them going. So, we really need (citizens) to help us on all the other things like wearing a mask, washing your hands frequently and social distancing.”
As far as Missouri, meanwhile, local news there is reporting a rise in cases attributable to high school students — specifically, to youth sports. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page confirmed to one TV news station that youth sports was causing a rise in cases and said he felt that high school sports traditionally played in the fall like football should be postponed until spring.
In terms of where things stand overall in the US right now, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases here has topped 6.3 million, with the latest daily total as of the time of this writing hitting 24,257. Deaths, meanwhile, have now surpassed 189,000. That’s according to the latest Johns Hopkins University data.
