Miami is the new epicenter of the coronavirus
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, new surges create hot spots across the country
Coronavirus cases in the United States continue to break records in various cities. Now Miami, Florida has emerged as the nation’s new epicenter.
READ MORE: New data confirms Black and Latino communities hit hardest by coronavirus pandemic
According to CNN Health , the south Florida tourist city has over 2,000 patients hospitalized, with hundreds in the intensive care unit. Those statistics are comparable to the number of patients in the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, the first epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
“What we were seeing in Wuhan, six months ago, five months ago, now we are there,” Lilian Abbo, a representative of the Jackson Health System said during a press conference, reports CNN.
Miami-Dade County has confirmed over 64,000 infections so far. The past two weeks have reached catastrophic numbers of cases with 68% of patients being hospitalized, 109% of ventilators being used, and eight hospitals reaching full capacity in the ICU.
The jump in cases is not unique to Miami. CNN reports a handful of cities have seen continued growth in COVID-19 cases in the past weeks. Rising coronavirus numbers in California, New Mexico and Oregon have caused state leaders to reverse reopening plans.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom restricted indoor activities at restaurants and movie theaters, museums and salons and ordered bars closed after the new surge in cases.
“Unfortunately, our state’s dramatically rising case numbers reflect that those behavior modifications and precautions have either not been taken seriously or taken up by enough people,” says New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
The southwestern state tightened capacity mandates in restaurants, bars, and gyms after seeing a rise in positive cases. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown ordered face-coverings in public and banned gatherings over 10 people.
READ MORE: White House slams Fauci over coronavirus disagreement with Trump
The latest update from the CDC provided on July 13, 2020 reports 3,296,599 cases and 134,884 deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States so far.
Subscribe to theGrio’s Dear Culture podcast on Spotify, Apple and Stitcher.
