Coronavirus live updates: Cases on the rise in 32 US states, analysis shows

October 8, 2020October 8, 2020 WKXA

Samara Heisz/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.

Over 36.1 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The criteria for diagnosis — through clinical means or a lab test — has varied from country-to-country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.

Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica.

The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7.5 million diagnosed cases and at least 211,834 deaths.

California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 841,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 803,000 cases and over 722,000 cases, respectively.

More than 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least 10 of which are in crucial phase three studies. Of those 10 in late-stage trials, there are currently five that will be available in the United States if approved.

Here’s how the news is developing Thursday. All times Eastern:

Oct 08, 11:23 am
840,000 more Americans file for unemployment insurance

Another 840,000 Americans sought unemployment insurance last week, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Labor released Thursday.

This week’s claims do not include the most up-to-date data from California, which has temporarily stopped accepting new jobless claims in order to work through a backlog and implement fraud prevention technology, the department said. Instead, the figure from California will reflect the level reported during the week prior to the pause in new applications.

Still, the initial claims data reflect a labor market still suffering some six months into the coronavirus pandemic. This is the 29th straight week of weekly unemployment claims coming in above the pre-pandemic record set in 1982.

While the number of new claims has dropped slightly since peaking in late March, they have stagnated at unprecedented levels not seen prior to the COVID-19 crisis. The average for the past four weeks was 857,000 new claims per week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

ABC News’ Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.

Oct 08, 11:08 am
COVID-19 killed more people in England and Wales this year than flu and pneumonia, data shows

The disease caused by the novel coronavirus killed three times more people in England and Wales during the first eight months of this year than influenza and pneumonia combined, according to new data released Thursday by the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS).

“More than three times as many deaths were recorded between January and August this year where COVID-19 was the underlying cause compared to influenza and pneumonia,” Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS, said in a statement. “The mortality rate for COVID-19 is also significantly higher than influenza and pneumonia rates for both 2020 and the five-year average.”

The highest number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia occurred in January; however, deaths from influenza and pneumonia were below the five-year average — 2015 to 2019 — in every month of 2020, according to the ONS.

“Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of COVID-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020,” Caul said.

Meanwhile, the proportion of deaths occurring in care homes due to COVID-19 — 30% — was almost double the proportion of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia — 15.2%, according to the ONS.

The U.K. agency noted that its analysis of COVID-19, influenza and pneumonia deaths focused on fatalities where people died due to those conditions, rather than deaths where the conditions were either the underlying cause or mentioned as a contributing factor.

Oct 08, 10:09 am
COVID-19 hospitalizations reach record high in Oklahoma

The number of current hospitalizations in Oklahoma due to COVID-19 has soared to a new record one-day high.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health on Wednesday reported 738 people hospitalized with either confirmed or possible cases of the disease.

Since the start of the pandemic, at least 94,352 people in Oklahoma have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1,075 of them have died, according to the state health department data.

Oct 08, 8:58 am
University of New Haven quarantines hundreds of students amid outbreak

Hundreds of students at the University of New Haven have been ordered to quarantine amid a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.

Since the start of the month, the private university in Connecticut has identified 24 positive cases of COVID-19, at least 19 of which were confirmed this week. In a letter to students Wednesday, university officials explained that a “critical mass” of those cases are clustered in the school’s Winchester Hall dormitory, prompting them to impose a “full-building quarantine” until Oct. 20.

Currently, 280 students are being quarantined on campus and nearly 70 are quarantining off campus, according to the letter.

“We must reverse this trend immediately,” the letter said. “Candidly, much of this could have been avoided if everyone had followed the regulations in place.”

Since the beginning of the fall semester, the university has investigated almost 300 reports of alleged COVID-19 policy violations and has handed down more than 150 disciplinary sanctions, ranging from warnings to housing suspensions.

“Any significant increase in cases could threaten our ability to continue on-campus operations or force us to, as other schools in Connecticut and across to country have had to do — transition to completely online learning,” the letter warned. “That is an outcome none of us want to see.”

Oct 08, 7:43 am
Germany sees highest daily increase in cases since April

Germany confirmed 4,058 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, an increase of 1,230 from the previous day, marking the country’s highest daily caseload since April.

An additional 16 coronavirus-related deaths were also recorded Wednesday. The cumulative total now stands at 310,144 cases with 9,578 deaths, according to the latest data from the country’s public health institute.

The number of daily cases recorded in Germany reached almost 7,000 during the height of the pandemic at the end of March and in early April. Although the figures have fallen significantly since then, Germany’s infections have been on the rise in recent months amid a second wave across Europe.

Earlier this week, the German government announced new curfews for bars, cafes, pubs and restaurants in the capital Berlin and financial hub Frankfurt, along with stricter rules on social gatherings.

Oct 08, 6:47 am
Analysis shows cases increasing in 32 US states

An ABC News analysis of COVID-19 trends across all 50 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico found there were increases in newly confirmed cases over the past two weeks in 32 states.

The analysis also found increases in the daily positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in 25 states, increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations in 35 states and increases in daily COVID-19 death tolls in 19 states.

The seven-day average of new cases in the United States has now surpassed 43,000, the highest it has been since Aug. 22. Regionally, new cases are on the rise across the Northeast, the Midwest, the South and the West.

One state — Montana — reported its highest single-day rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases. Seven states — Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming — hit a record number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations in a day.

The trends were all analyzed from data collected and published by the COVID Tracking Project over the past two weeks, using the linear regression trend line of the seven-day moving average.

Oct 08, 6:26 am
New cases and ICU usage on the rise in US, FEMA memo says

An internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Wednesday night shows that the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in the United States and the nationwide usage of intensive care units are both on the rise in week-over-week comparisons.

There were 306,965 new cases confirmed during the period of Sept. 30-Oct. 6, a 4.8% increase from the previous week. There were also 4,860 coronavirus-related fatalities recorded during the period of Sept. 30-Oct. 6, a 4.6% decrease compared with the week prior, according to the memo.

Meanwhile, the national positivity rate for COVID-19 tests increased from 4.5% to 5.4% in week-to-week comparisons. Currently, 23% of hospitals across the country have more than 80% of beds full in their intensive care units. That figure was 17-18% during the summertime peak, the memo said.

The memo, which is circulated to the highest levels of the federal government and is used to determine daily priorities for the agencies working on COVID-19 response, shows that 32 U.S. states and territories are in an upward trajectory of infections, while eight jurisdictions are at a plateau and 16 others are in a downward trend.

In Florida, 75% of ICU beds statewide are occupied. The number of new COVID-19 deaths doubled in Duval County in week-to-week comparisons, while Sumter County recently reported a single-day positivity rate for COVID-19 tests of over 20%, according to the memo.

Kentucky reported its highest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases on Oct. 3. Nearly half of current cases in northern Kentucky are patients younger than 40, and approximately 40% of them are under 30. The total number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has been increasing statewide since the end of September, the memo said.

The seven-day COVID-19 hospitalization rate continues to rise in Minnesota, reaching its highest since June 1 at 9.8 per 100,000 population, according to the memo.

In Ohio, the number of new COVID-19 cases has more than doubled in Muskingum County between the weeks ending Sept. 27 and Oct. 4. Outbreaks have been discovered at four social clubs there, according to the memo.

Wisconsin’s seven-day COVID-19 death rate has increased 139% from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4. The seven-day COVID-19 hospitalization rate also continues to climb, with Wisconsin reporting a peak of 16.4 per 100,000 population on Oct. 4. The state saw a record high of 782 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Oct. 5, more than double the amount a month earlier. As of Oct. 4, 84% of ICU beds statewide were in use. Local health departments in the counties of Fox Valley, Door and Manitowoc report seeing so many new cases that they are unable to conduct tests or contact tracing in a timely manner, the memo said.

Oct 08, 5:17 am
US reports over 50,000 new cases

There were 50,341 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Wednesday, driving the country’s cumulative total past 7.5 million, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest daily tally is up by nearly 10,000 from the previous day but is still under the country’s record set on July 16, when there were 77,255 new cases in a 24-hour reporting period.

An additional 915 coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded Wednesday, down from a peak of 2,666 new fatalities reported on April 17.

A total of 7,550,731 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 211,834 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.

By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July. The daily tally of new cases has gradually come down since then but has hovered around 40,000 in recent weeks.

Oct 08, 4:38 am
Czech Republic sees record rise in cases for second straight day

The Czech Republic identified 5,335 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, its highest single-day rise yet.

It’s the first time the central European nation has registered more than 5,000 new cases in one day. The previous record of 4,457 new cases in a 24-hour reporting period was just set the day before.

The cumulative total now stands at 95,360 confirmed cases with 829 deaths, according to the latest data from the Czech health ministry.

More than 43,000 cases were active Wednesday, including 1,563 patients who remained hospitalized for COVID-19, while over 50,000 have recovered from the disease, according to the health ministry data.

The Czech Republic has the highest rate of COVID-19 infection in Europe. Over the past two weeks, the country of 10.7 million people has reported 346.1 cases per 100,000, surpassing Spain for the first time, which has seen 305 cases per 100,000, according to data published Tuesday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Earlier this week, the Czech government declared another state of emergency due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 infections, after having relaxed almost all restrictions over the summer. The government is expected on Friday to announce new measures to contain the outbreak.

The Czech Republic is among a handful of European countries, including France, Spain and the United Kingdom, that are grappling with an uptick in COVID-19 cases as a second wave of infections hits the region.