Arizona sees ray of hope in virus battle but cases rise in 44 U.S. states

Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths are also rising in about 20 states, according to a Reuters tally, amid simmering disputes over whether mask wearing should be mandatory and how to safely reopen schools and businesses. As was the case in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in March through May, it has taken weeks for Arizona to get results from its actions to curb the virus, such as recommending the wearing of masks.

Arizona, which had the highest rate of positive tests for the novel coronavirus in the United States two weeks ago, is seeing a reduction in infections but it is only one of six states where case numbers are decreasing. Coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths are also rising in about 20 states, according to a Reuters tally, amid simmering disputes over whether mask wearing should be mandatory and how to safely reopen schools and businesses.

As was the case in New York, the epicenter of the pandemic in March through May, it has taken weeks for Arizona to get results from its actions to curb the virus, such as recommending the wearing of masks. However, new cases in Arizona fell 13% last week and the number of patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 have steadily trended downward after peaking on July 13. And now 24% of tests on average are coming back positive, down from a record high of 27% the prior week, according to a Reuters analysis.

But one state moving in the right direction gives Americans little to celebrate, and deaths, a lagging indicator, are still rising in Arizona. The country's three most populous states, Florida, Texas and California, top the list of 44 states where cases are increasing, based on a Reuters analysis of infections the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks.

On Tuesday, U.S. deaths from COVID-19 topped 1,000 in a single day for the first time since June 10. More than 142,000 people have died in the country during the past five months and deaths are rising in 23 states, according to the Reuters tally. In Texas, the top county official in a hotspot along the U.S. border with Mexico said on Wednesday that crematoriums in his area have a wait list of two weeks, forcing him to rely on five refrigerated trucks that can hold 50 bodies each to deal with a spike in COVID deaths.

"We've got to lasso this virus, this stallion, bring the numbers back down and get control of this thing," Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez said. "Because our hospitals – they're war zones, they are really struggling right now." As of Tuesday, cases in the county had risen 60% in the last week to over 13,000 total. In just one week, deaths have doubled to over 360, according to a Reuters tally.

On Monday Cortez, a Democrat, issued a shelter-in-place order and is in a standoff with Republican Governor Greg Abbott who has barred local officials from doing so. Cortez said he was criticized in May for shutting down when the county had few cases ... "then the governor opened our state up in my opinion too early, and here we are."

CHICAGO SCHOOLS PROTEST Disagreements over when and how to reopen businesses and schools safely following weeks of lockdown earlier this year - and official orders to wear masks - have become politicized across the country.

In Chicago on Wednesday, dozens of teachers staged a socially distant motor protest against Mayor Lori Lightfoot's plan for Chicago Public Schools to start the academic year with a mix of in-person instruction and remote learning. "If the biggies make the decisions that teachers are going back fully in class, then somebody is going to die. If it isn't a student, it'll be a teacher, a teacher's grandmother or a student's grandmother," said retired teacher Jerome Jordan, 78.

The protesting teachers said officials have yet to lay out a detailed plan to adequately clean schools, provide disinfectant and personal protective equipment and instructions on how to social distance large groups of children even with school to start within weeks. In Georgia, a third judge has been appointed in the dispute between Republican Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta's Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat and mayor of the state's largest city, over whether people must wear masks.