US Tops 3 Million COVID-19 Cases As ICUs In Florida, Texas Hit Max Capacity: Live Updates

The US coronavirus outbreak crossed a grim milestone of over 3 million confirmed cases on Tuesday as more states reported record numbers of new infections, while dozens of hospitals in Florida are facing a shortage of ICU beds.

Meanwhile, the US reported 44,953 new cases on Wednesday (remember, these numbers are reported with a 24-hour delay).

Globally, the world reported roughly 5k new deaths yesterday as the US saw its death toll top 130k.

Roughly 20% of new deaths yesterday were recorded in the US as it suffered the biggest jump in deaths in a month.

When we left off last night, 43 ICUs in the state of Florida had reached full capacity.

The number of patients in ICU beds has climbed from 180 on June 25 to 343 as of July 7, according to the data. There were 1,656 Covid-19 patients in hospital as of July 7, with 175 on ventilators, up from 885 patients in hospital on June 25, when there were 84 on ventilators.

At last count, 56 ICUs across Florida have reached capacity, according to CNN.

While Florida’s hospitals appear to be seeing the most problems with capacity, Texas isn’t far behind. Nearly 80% of the state’s hospital beds are in use, and ICUs are filling up in San Antonio and Houston, which are some of the biggest cities in the entire US. As the AP reports, leaders are warning their health facilities could become overwhelmed in the coming days.

While rising cases have reflected rising tests, and while deaths have continued to trend lower despite yesterday’s spike, Texas has a positive test rate of 13.5%, more than double the share from a month prior, even as the number of tests being carried out each day have increased substantially.

In North Houston, one hospital, United Memorial has been rapidly dedicating more and more space to virus care. Now, 88 of 117 beds are devoted to such patients, and it’s weighing the possibility of going ‘all-COVID-19’.