July Worst Month On Record For New Coronavirus Infections

ACROSS AMERICA — While the country debates on whether its safe to reopen schools and how to deliver economic relief to cash-strapped Americans, one facet of the coronavirus pandemic leaves no room for debate: July was the worst month on record for new infections in the United States.

The U.S. saw a devastating surge of infections in July. More than 1.9 million new cases were reported, by far the most tallied in a single month, according to a Washington Post report.

The month’s infection total reported by states was more than double June's total and represents about 42 percent of the 4.5 million cases the country had logged since the outbreak started. Nationwide, testing increased in July from about 600,000 to 820,000 tests per day.

Coronavirus-related deaths also rose after declining in April and May: The country saw 25,259 fatalities in July, up more than 3,700 from the previous month, according to The Post’s data. Health experts predicted daily deaths would continue to trend upward in August, trailing spikes in infections by a few weeks.

To date, nearly 154,000 people in the United States have died of COVID-19, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, lawmakers reported progress on a huge coronavirus relief bill Saturday, as political pressure mounts to restore an expired $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit and send funding to help schools reopen.

An important piece of evidence in determining whether or not schools can reopen question came Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Kids can spread the virus at least as easily as anybody else.

Finally, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday repeated that he was “cautiously optimistic” a safe and effective vaccine is possible this year.

“We hope that as the time we get into the late fall and early winter, we will have, in fact, a vaccine that we can say would be safe and effective,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said. “One can never guarantee the safety or effectiveness unless you do the trial, but we are cautiously optimistic.”

See Also: Congress Huddles On Capitol Hill To Resume Virus Aid Talks

How Will School Look In A Pandemic? Like A Hot Mess, Many Say.

As of Saturday evening, the U.S. had surpassed 4.6 million cases of coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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