Coronavirus Cases Spike in 3 States Where Trump Admin Will Close Test Sites
As cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. approach nearly 2.4 million, the Trump Administration has announced measures to end federal funding for testing sites in five states, including three states where new infections have been rising in recent weeks.
On June 30, federal funds will be cut at 13 community-based testing sites including seven in Texas, two in both Illinois and New Jersey, as well as one in both Colorado and Pennsylvania. The number of total new infections reported in Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania from June 17 to 23 increased from the total reported the previous week in each of those three states.
The government will instead be "broadening its community testing support to a more sustainable model," a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told NBC News on Wednesday.
The new model will provide continued support of retail and pharmacy partnerships in over 600 locations and virus testing at over 1,300 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) across the country, the spokesperson confirmed.
Assistant HHS Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said in a statement: "All 13 sites were provided an extra 30 days from the original transition date in May, and I personally spoke with governors from all five states involved, and/or their leadership designees, who agreed that it was the appropriate time to transition out of the original 13 sites and into the thousands of new testing options."
"The federal government is not ending funding or support for COVID-19 testing sites," Giroir said in the statement, adding that "HHS will continue to increase testing capacity overall, and make it more accessible."
The latest announcement follows rising cases in three of the five states where a selection of testing sites have been defunded. Here we take look at the virus figures in Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey. The case data below is from the latest report Thursday by Johns Hopkins University, unless otherwise stated.
Texas
Confirmed cases: 128,132
Latest daily case count: 5,100
Total new cases this week: Up by over 89 percent since last week
The number of new cases across Texas in roughly the past week has nearly doubled from the figure reported the previous week. From June 17 to 23, the state reported 29,300 new infections—13,800 more than the 15,500 new cases recorded from June 10 to 16, a nearly 90 percent increase.
On Wednesday, Texas reported a new record single-day rise in cases, with 5,551 new infections on June 24, the highest daily case count since the outbreak began. The previous record was set just a day earlier, with 5,489 new cases reported on June 23, according to the latest report Wednesday from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DHSH).
Texas also reported 4,389 hospitalizations on Wednesday, the state's 13th consecutive day of record hospitalizations since June 12, according to the Texas DHSH.
Colorado
Confirmed cases: 31,139
Latest daily case count: 188
Total new cases this week: Up by over 32 percent from last week
Total new cases in Colorado reported in roughly the last week increased from 1,450 recorded from June 17 to 23 to 1,094 total new infections from June 10 to 16, a more than 32 percent spike.
The three-day moving average percentage of positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) virus tests has been on a mostly declining trend from around mid-April, according to the latest figures from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.
The daily percentage of positive serology virus tests has also been on a mostly declining trend from around mid to late May, according to Colorado's health department.
Pennsylvania
Confirmed cases: 87,685
Latest daily case count: 632
Total new cases this week: Up by over 3.9 percent from last week
The daily case count in Pennsylvania has been on a mostly increasing trend from June 16 to 24. The state reported 3,230 total new cases from June 17 to 23, a nearly four percent jump from 3,108 reported from June 10 to 16.
The average number of COVID-19 patient hospitalizations and average number of COVID-19 patients on a ventilator have been on a mostly decreasing trend in the past 14 days, according to the latest report from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
New Jersey
Confirmed cases: 169,892
Latest daily case count: 319
Total new cases this week: Down by over 12 percent since last week
New Jersey has the third-highest number of cases in the country, after New York and California. The state's daily case count has been on a mostly declining trend since around mid-April, when daily new cases were at a peak.
The total number of new infections in roughly the past week, from June 17 to 23, has dropped to 2,308, down from 2,630 reported from June 10 to 16, a more than 12 percent decrease.
Illinois
Confirmed cases: 138,540
Latest daily case count: 601
Total new cases this week: Down by over 5.4 percent since last week
The total number of new infections in Illinois has reached at least 4,186 from June 17 to 23. The tally over roughly the past week is a drop from 4,427 total new cases reported the previous week from June 10 to 16, a decrease of over 5.4 percent.
The total number of COVID-19 patient hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) beds used by COVID-19 patients as well as COVID-19 patients placed on a ventilator have all been on a mostly declining trend since around mid-April, according to the latest report Wednesday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The novel coronavirus, which was first reported in Wuhan, China, has spread to over 9.4 million people across the globe, including over 2.3 million in the U.S. More than 4.7 million globally have reportedly recovered from infection, while nearly 482,900 have died, as of Thursday, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrations the daily number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and European Union.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the percentage of COVID-19-related hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths in the U.S.
Correction 6/25/20, 9:17 a.m. ET: This article and its headline were updated to clarify the defunding is planned but not yet implemented in the states where coronavirus cases have been rising.
