The coronavirus pandemic has set another grim milestone. On Thursday, the U.S. hit the highest number of newly-confirmed cases over the course of a single day with nearly 36,000.
As The Washington Post points out, several states have yet to report their full caseloads, meaning the actual number could be higher. These almost 36,000 new cases eclipse the prior record of 34,203, which was set back on April 25, as noted by Post reporter Derek Hawkins on Twitter. The news comes as a startling number of states have seen a sharp spike in confirmed cases. This also happens to come just weeks after various lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were beginning to be lifted at the end of May.
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The US just recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day — nearly 36,000 — and several states still haven’t reported their full caseloads. Prior high was 34,203 on 4/25, at the end of a brutal month. Virus is soaring in FL, TX, AZ. https://t.co/ISxgHjTw4c
— Derek Hawkins (@D_Hawk) June 24, 2020
Despite the escalating numbers, the Trump administration appears to have done little to intervene. President Donald Trump even told his sparsely-attended rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump that he wanted to slow down testing for COVID-19, fearing the rising number of cases made him look bad. He even went so far as to back up those remarks on Monday at a White House press conference. “By having more tests, we find more cases,” he explained, before claiming that the U.S. has done “way more” testing for COVID-19 than “other countries — big countries,” which makes the U.S. look bad by comparison. “The reason we have more cases than other countries is because our testing is so much.”
At the rally itself, Trump did offer some thoughts about the pandemic, which has killed more than 120,000 people in the U.S. so far. “They never talk about COVID,” he claimed. “They don’t talk about — when you see 25,000 people walking down Fifth Avenue, or walking down a street of a Democrat-run city — you never hear them saying they are not wearing their masks as they are breaking windows and running in.”
He also referred to the virus as “Kung flu,” a racist term similar to his previous name, “Chinese Virus” while on stage. “COVID, it’s this, they’ve got— by the way, it’s a disease, without question, has more names than any disease in history,” Trump said on stage. “I can name, Kung Flu, I can name 19 different versions of names. Many call it a virus, which it is, many call it a flu, what difference?”
