Coronavirus cases were on the rise again in more than half the country Monday while President Donald Trump was being treated for his own Covid-19 infection and the White House press secretary became the latest administration figure to test positive for the coronavirus.
With the presidential election now less than a month away, 33 states as well as Puerto Rico and Guam saw increases in new cases in the past two weeks, while Montana, where cases have been spiking, emerged as the nation’s newest hot spot, according to the latest NBC News analysis.
Among those reporting upticks (increases in cases of 25 percent or more) are states that were hit early on in the pandemic like New York and New Jersey that had been able to flatten the curve, the figures showed.
Texas, which was forced to contend with an explosion of new Covid-19 cases and deaths after reopening in May at the urging of Trump, also reported a 52 percent jump in new cases.
But Arizona and Florida, which also saw a surge in new cases and deaths when they reopened in the spring, were just two of the seven states (along with Washington, D.C., and two territories) where the pandemic appeared to be declining slightly, the figures showed.
At the same time, the number of new infections plateaued in 10 states and one territory. One of those states was California, which lead the nation with 834,480 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Monday morning.
In other coronavirus developments:
- The World Health Organization reported that 1 in 10 people around the world have already been infected with the coronavirus. “We are now heading into a difficult period,” Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert said. “The disease continues to spread.”
- With Covid-19 cases suddenly spiking in some New York City neighborhoods, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave the OK to close public and private schools in nine ZIP codes where the infection rate has climbed over 3 percent over the last seven days.
- India's coronavirus death toll eclipsed 100,000 over the weekend and the country now has highest rate of daily increase in infections in the world. Only the U.S. and Brazil have recorded more deaths. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing ahead with reopening his country.
- Anti-government activist Ammon Bundy's refusal to wear a mask at an Idaho high school football game could result in his son's team losing the game, even though they were ahead 35 to nothing when the game was halted at halftime. Bundy, who became infamous after a 2016 standoff with his father, Cliven Bundy, at an Oregon wildlife refuge, was unrepentant. “I have a strong belief in my right to choose to wear a mask or not," Bundy said.
- More and more women are sacrificing their careers to stay home and help their kids contend with virtual learning. "We know that women tend to bear the lion's share of that childcare distance learning work,” said Emily Martin, vice president of education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center.
While there have been warnings for several months about a “second wave” of infections, most public health experts insist the U.S. still is still grappling with the first wave and note that the country continues to lead the world in the total number of cases with 7.4 million and 210,959 deaths.
“We can only experience a second wave if a first wave has come and gone,” Dr. Howard Koh, a Harvard professor who was the assistant secretary of health and human services under President Barack Obama, told NBC News in an email. “In the U.S., however, the first wave has come and stayed. The protracted first wave is now into the ninth month and counting.”
Koh noted that there have been projections that the death toll “could close to double by the end of the year.”
“The president’s diagnosis, as distressing as it is, must serve as a solemn wake-up call that we are all vulnerable and need to double down on masks, prevention and public health,” Koh said.
While Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of lying to the American public about the dangers of the pandemic and sowing confusion by refusing until recently to wear a mask and presiding over campaign rallies where there was little social distancing, most Republicans have been reluctant do so.
But Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Monday told The Houston Chronicle’s editorial board that Trump “let his guard down” on the coronavirus and that his rhetoric created “confusion.”
“I think in his desire to try to demonstrate that we are somehow coming out of this and that the danger is not still with us — I think he got out over his skis and, frankly, I think it’s a lesson to all of us that we need to exercise self-discipline,” Cornyn said.
Trump was flown by chopper from the White House to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday. As of Monday afternoon, Trump tweeted that he would be discharged at 6:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, Trump’s allies went on national TV to defend the president’s Sunday drive-by for supporters outside of Walter Reed.
"The president wanted to thank all the supporters who had been standing out there for days supporting him," Corey Lewandowski, one of Trump's 2016 campaign managers, said on NBC's "TODAY" show.
Questioned about whether Trump’s actions endangered the Secret Service detail leader and driver, Lewandowski insisted "both volunteered for that assignment."
Trump has taken flak from much of the medical establishment as well as Democrats for what’s been described as a “political stunt.”
So far, 11 people tied to Trump have come down with the virus. The latest were White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany and two of her deputies, Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt.
"After testing negative consistently, including every day since Thursday, I tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms," McEnany wrote on Twitter. "No reporters producers, or members of the press are listed as close contacts by the White House Medical Unit."
