Confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 2.5 million on Sunday as a crushing new wave of infections continued to bear down throughout the country’s South and West. Across the nation, more than 38,000 new daily cases were reported by 5:15 p.m. on Sunday.

Florida, Texas and Arizona are fast emerging as the country’s latest epicenters after reporting record numbers of new infections for weeks in a row. Positivity rates and hospitalizations have also spiked. On Sunday, Arizona (3,857) and Georgia (2,225) hit new one-day case highs.

Global cases of covid-19 exceeded 10 million, according to a count maintained by Johns Hopkins University, a measure of the power and spread of a pandemic that has caused vast human suffering, devastated the world’s economy and still threatens vulnerable populations in rich and poor nations alike.

Here are some significant developments:

• Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Sunday downplayed concerns about Florida’s rising number of new coronavirus cases and attributed the state’s numbers to young people flouting social distancing rules.

• As cases surge in parts of the United States, testing centers have been overwhelmed with an influx of patients, leading to long wait times and huge lines.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday the wearing of masks should be mandatory nationwide during the pandemic.

• A record surge in new cases is the clearest sign yet of the historic failure in the United States to control the virus — exposing a crisis in governance extending from the Oval Office to state capitals to city councils.

• The faltering response in the United States remains a subject of global shock and fascination, with one prominent French virologist saying Sunday the situation was “explosive.”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/28/coronavirus-live-updates-us/