The coronavirus continues to surge in states around the country, mostly in the South and West. Testifying before members of Congress on Tuesday, White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said parts of the U.S. are beginning to see a “disturbing surge” and described the overall situation as a “mixed bag” across different regions and states.
- Global cases: More than 9.29 million
- Global deaths: At least 478,289
- U.S. cases: More than 2.34 million
- U.S. deaths: At least 121,279
The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
California reports more than 7,000 cases, biggest daily jump so far
3:30 p.m. ET — California reported an additional 7,149 Covid-19 cases since Tuesday, a 69% increase in two days, bringing the state’s total to 190,222 cases, according to the state’s health department.
While the daily case numbers are growing, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the state performed a record number of tests in the last 24 hours. However, the percent of tests coming back positive has slightly increased in the last two weeks, sitting at 5.1% on a 14-day average, he said.
Hospitalizations from Covid-19 in California have also increased 29% in the last 14 days, totaling 4,095 as of Tuesday, Newsom said.
“We cannot continue to do what we have done over the last number of weeks. Many of us understandably developed a little cabin fever, some I would argue developed a little amnesia, others have frankly taken down their guard,” Newsom said at press briefing. —Noah Higgins-Dunn
The pandemic still hasn’t peaked in the Americas, WHO says
2:30 p.m. ET — Coronavirus outbreaks in the Americas, which include North, South and Central America, haven’t reached their peaks yet, the World Health Organization warned.
Over a third of the new cases reported Tuesday were from five countries in the Americas, according to WHO data. The U.S. reported the most cases and is the worst-hit country in the world with more than 2.3 million cases and at least 121,279 deaths as of Wednesday.
The comment by the WHO came a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ leading infectious disease expert, expressed concern a “disturbing surge” in coronavirus infections as states continue to reopen.
One WHO official said that parts of the Americas had not “reached a low enough level of transmission “with which we can achieve a successful exit of successful and social distancing measures.” —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
1:04 p.m. ET — More than 7,000 people have signed an online petition urging Disney and local government officials to reconsider the reopening of Disney World next month.
The petition comes as coronavirus cases in the state are rapidly rising.
It is difficult to determine how many of the signees of the online petition are actually Walt Disney employees or if the petition is union-backed. There is no mention in the petition itself of any affiliation with an employee union.
“The safety and well being of our cast members and guests are at the forefront of our planning, and we are in active dialogue with our unions on the extensive health and safety protocols, following guidance from public health experts, which we plan to implement as we move toward our proposed, phased reopening,” Disney said in a statement to CNBC. —Sarah Whitten
Florida shatters record for new cases in a day
12:15 p.m. ET — The Florida Department of Health reported 5,508 new coronavirus cases, surpassing the previous record single-day increase of 4,049 new cases reported on Saturday.
Florida is among a handful of states that includes Arizona and Texas that are experiencing expanding outbreaks of the virus.
As cases continue to rise by the thousands every day in Florida, the percent of total tests coming back positive has also risen. On Wednesday, the state reported that 15.91% of all tests came back positive, up from 10.82%. That increase indicates that the surge in new cases is not due solely to ramped up testing. —Will Feuer
NY, NJ and CT impose quarantine on travelers from hotspot states
11:51 a.m. ET — The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut jointly announced a 14-day quarantine for travelers entering the states from coronavirus hotspots.
The Northeastern bloc of states has successfully combated their own outbreaks, having brought peak infection rates down considerably, and are now worried about visitors reintroducing high transmission rates.
“We worked very hard to get the viral transmission rate down. We don’t want to see it go up because a lot of people come into this region and they can literally bring the infection with them,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont.
The hotspot states included in the advisory so far are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington. —Sara Salinas
New York City Marathon canceled
10:29 a.m. ET — The 2020 TCS New York City Marathon has been canceled amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to an announcement from the race’s organizers. Scheduled for Nov. 1, the event was supposed to commemorate the 50th running of the marathon.
New York Road Runners, which organizes the race, said the decision was made from a health perspective in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office.
“While the marathon is an iconic and beloved event in our city, I applaud New York Road Runners for putting the health and safety of both spectators and runners first,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement.
NYRR said runners will receive a full refund of their entry fee or complimentary entry for 2021, 2022 or 2023. They will also be invited to participate in a virtual marathon event taking place from Oct. 17 to Nov. 1.
The New York City race is the world’s largest marathon and counted 53,640 finishers in 2019, according to NYRR. —Hannah Miller
More states are reporting increases in new Covid-19 cases as U.S. 7-day average continues to grow
0:11 a.m. ET — As of Tuesday, the seven-day average of daily new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. increased by more than 32% compared to one week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Cases are growing by 5% or more in 30 states across the country, including Arizona, Texas, Montana and Idaho. Since Monday, four more states have seen growth in their 7-day average of daily new cases.
Texas health officials reported an all-time high of 5,489 new cases on Tuesday, surpassing 5,000 cases in a single day. The state has also been seeing record spikes in hospitalizations in recent weeks. As of Tuesday, there are 3,335 people currently hospitalized in Texas based on a 7-day moving average, which is a 49% increase compared with a week ago, according to Covid Tracking Project data.
California also broke its record for daily number of positive cases on Tuesday, adding 6,712 new cases, according to Johns Hopkins data. The state surpassed 6,000 new cases for the first time on Monday. —Jasmine Kim
IMF slashes forecasts for U.S. economy, GDP
9:47 a.m. ET — The International Monetary Fund slashed its economic estimates for global GDP and the U.S. economy amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and warned that governments’ debt levels will continue to soar as they combat the crisis.
The IMF forecast a contraction of 4.9% in global GDP and estimated that the U.S. economy will contract by 8% in 2020, CNBC’s Silvia Amaro reports. The new estimates were downward revisions from what the IMF forecast in April.
The Washington-based institution said the new figures were due to expectations that social-distancing measures will likely remain in place during the second half of 2020, hurting productivity and supply chains.
The Fund also downgraded its 2020 estimates for the euro zone and its GDP forecast for 2021. —Hannah Miller
The U.S. will eclipse its first peak, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says
8:20 a.m. ET — Daily new cases of coronavirus will surpass the country’s first peak in April, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC.
“We’re going to eclipse the totals in April, so we’ll eclipse 37,000 diagnosed infections a day,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “But in April we were only diagnosing 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 infections, so those 37,000 infections represented probably half a million infections at the peak.“
Since April, the U.S. has significantly ramped up the country’s capacity to test broadly for the virus, including among asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic patients. That means even though confirmed cases will likely peak again, the underlying outbreak probably isn’t as large as it was in April, Gottlieb said.
“The total number of deaths is falling because the total infection burden in the country is a lot lower now than it was in April,” he said. —Will Feuer
Most recent 1 million cases were reported in just a week, WHO says
8:08 am ET — The pandemic is still accelerating, with the most recent 1 million cases being reported in one week, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, according to Reuters.
During a virtual conference on vaccine development and access across the continent, Tedros added that every country in Africa has now developed laboratory capacity to conduct diagnostic testing for the virus.
The virus has sickened more than 9.27 million people around the world and killed at least 477,807 people. There is still no U.S.-approved treatment or vaccine for the disease. —Will Feuer
India reports record single-day spike in cases
7:12 a.m. ET — India has reported its highest spike of new cases of infections since the virus took hold in the country of more than 1.3 billion people, according to The Associated Press.
In 24 hours, the country reported 15,968 new cases and 465 deaths, the AP reported. That means the virus has now infected more than 456,183 people in India, killing at least 14,476, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Maharashtra, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the hardest-hit states, making up almost 60% of all confirmed cases in the country. New Delhi, in particular, is emerging as a cause for concern in the federal government, the AP reported, due to poor contact tracing infrastructure and limited hospital capacity.
India has the fourth worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, based on total number of confirmed cases, behind only the U.S., Brazil and Russia. —Will Feuer
The EU is discussing reopening its borders, but US citizens could remain barred
6:51 a.m. ET — The European Union is discussing how to reopen its external borders as the region looks to revive its economies, but visitors from the U.S., and elsewhere, could be barred from entering the bloc for now.
Thirty European countries decided to close their external borders back in March to contain the spread of Covid-19, but that measure is due to be lifted on Tuesday. Representatives of the EU governments are discussing the criteria to lift the travel restrictions from abroad, and at the moment, the main requirement is the coronavirus infection rate in the country of origin.
This means that countries with high rates, such as the United States and Brazil, could remain barred from entering European nations, at least for some time. —Silvia Amaro
HENRY KOTULA 