US Coronavirus Update: States Impose New Quarantine Requirements As COVID-19 Cases Snowball

The U.S. recorded on Wednesday the highest one-day total new COVID-19 cases since April. It came as three U.S. states announced new quarantine measures on visitors from states with high coronavirus infection rates.

On Tuesday, the country recorded 34,700 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest since the number peaked at 36,400 in late April. The surge in new coronavirus infections is particularly evident in southern and western states, where hospitals are now teeming with COVID-19 patients.

While early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey have seen a steady decline in new infections, cases in other states such as Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma have been on the rise. Earlier this week, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington predicted that this trend could lead to nearly 180,000 COVID-19 deaths by October.

States across the U.S. have eased lockdown restrictions since last month to protect their economies. With inconsistent policies, however, experts believe that the country will continue to see a renewed surge in coronavirus infections.

On Wednesday, health experts warned the public that efforts to wipe out the virus in the U.S. would fail if people would refuse to get cooped up. They also said that despite eased restrictions, the public should continue to follow local health guidance, including wearing masks, frequent hand washing, and isolating.

“People got complacent,” Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system, said. “And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly,” he added. Quite evidently, 26 states have seen a rise in coronavirus cases this week.

In a joint news conference on Wednesday, the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced the imposition of a 14-day self-quarantine on visitors coming from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. New York governor Andrew Cuomo explained that the quarantine would take effect in states where 10 out of 100,000 people test positive for the virus on a rolling seven-day basis.

According to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, the measures were “a smart thing to do.” “We have taken our people, the three of us from these three states, through hell and back, and the last thing we need to do right now is subject our folks to another round,” he said.