'Coming back and biting us': US sees virus resurgence

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Crematorium workers burn the coffins of COVID-19 victims after they have been cremated at the San Nicolas Tolentino cemetery in the Iztapalapa neighborhood of Mexico City, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

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Stands are empty except for owners and grooms Wednesday, June 24, 2020, before a horse race at Emerald Downs Racetrack in Auburn, Wash., on the first day of racing at the track since all professional sports in Washington state were curtailed in March by the outbreak of the coronavirus. No spectators were allowed, but online wagering was available and the races were streamed. Organizers hope to continue racing into October on a modified schedule. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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Members of Orange County Fire Rescue and volunteers pass out personal protective equipment (PPE) items including disposable face masks, reusable masks and hand sanitizer to small businesses Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Orange County hopes to supply up to 10,000 businesses with the items over the next several days. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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TSA agent Patrisa Johnson assist travelers as they clear security for flights out of Love Field in Dallas, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Students wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing at a classroom during the first day of school reopening at a high school in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Malaysia began reopening schools Wednesday while entering the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) after three months of coronavirus restrictions. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

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A man wearing a mask to curb the spread of the new coronavirus walks past COVID-19 graffiti, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

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Visitors wearing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19 pose for photos at the Alamo, which remains closed, in San Antonio, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. Cases of COVID-19 have spiked in Texas and the governor of Texas is encouraging people to wear masks in public and stay home if possible. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey wears a face covering due to the coronavirus at a news conference Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

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A woman, wearing a protective mask due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, walks past a mural in tribute to Frederick Douglass on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in the South End neighborhood of Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

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People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walk through a shopping and office complex in Beijing, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. New virus cases have declined in China and in the capital Beijing, where a two-week spike appears to be firmly waning. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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A man wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walks past a propaganda banner encouraging people to sort their garbage in Beijing, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. New virus cases have declined in China and in the capital Beijing, where a two-week spike appears to be firmly waning. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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Healthcare workers wait under a tent at a United Memorial Medical Center COVID-19 testing site Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Houston. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that the state is facing a “massive outbreak” in the coronavirus pandemic and that some new local restrictions may be needed to protect hospital space for new patients. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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Urban artist Kevin Perez poses for photos in front of his mural in honor of health workers who assist COVID-19 patients in the country’s hospitals, near La Verbena cemetery in Guatemala City, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

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Auto rickshaw drivers wearing masks as a precaution against COVID-19 await customers near an optical shop in Kochi, Kerala state, India, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the coronavirus in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/R S Iyer)

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The Rimac neighborhood is seen from above amid the new coronavirus pandemic, in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Members of Orange County Fire Rescue pack personal protective equipment (PPE) items including disposable face masks, reusable masks and hand sanitizer in bags to be handed out to small businesses, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Orange County hopes to supply up to 10,000 businesses with the items over the next several days. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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Medical staff wearing protective gear tend to a patient in the women’s ward of a COVID-19 hospital at Military Camp 1, Naucalpan, Mexico State, part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Mexico ranks seventh globally in COVID-19 deaths and third in its mortality rate among the 20 currently most affected countries, according to Johns Hopkins University. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

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Visitors, some wearing masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19, walk along the River Walk in San Antonio, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in San Antonio. Cases of COVID-19 have spiked in Texas and the governor of Texas is encouraging people to wear masks in public and stay home if possible. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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A traveler wearing a face shield looks at his phone outside the arrivals area at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Los Angeles. The United States recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in two months, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Olinda Silvano from the Shipibo Conibo ethnic group, talks to a member of an NGO dressed in protective gear against the new coronavirus, during the celebration of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Peruvian Amazon, in the Cantagallo neighborhood of Lima, Peru, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. The neighborhood reopened about 10 days ago after it had been under strict quarantine due to an outbreak of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

By NOMAAN MERCHANT and JUAN A. LOZANO

HOUSTON (AP) — A coronavirus resurgence is wiping out two months of progress in the U.S. and sending infections to dire new levels across the South and West, with hospital administrators and health experts warning Wednesday that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold.

The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest level since late April, when the number peaked at 36,400, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

While newly confirmed infections have been declining steadily in early hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day records this week, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.

“People got complacent,” said Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of the Houston Methodist hospital system. “And it’s coming back and biting us, quite frankly.”

Stocks slid on Wall Street as the news dampened hopes for a quick economic turnaround. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 700 points for a drop of 2.7%. The broader S&P 500 fell 2.6%.

The virus has been blamed for over 120,000 U.S. deaths — the highest toll in the world — and more than 2.3 million confirmed infections nationwide. On Wednesday, the widely cited University of Washington computer model of the outbreak projected nearly 180,000 deaths by Oct. 1.

California reported over 7,100 new cases, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would withhold pandemic-related funding from local governments that brush off state requirements on masks and other anti-virus measures. Florida’s single-day count surged to 5,500, a 25% jump from the record set last week.

In Texas, which began lifting its shutdowns on May 1, hospitalizations have doubled and new cases have tripled in two weeks. Gov. Greg Abbott told KFDA-TV the state is facing a “massive outbreak” and might need new local restrictions to preserve hospital space.

The Houston area’s intensive care units are nearly full, and two public hospitals are running at capacity, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Houston Methodist’s Boom said Texans need to “behave perfectly and work together perfectly” to slow the infection rate.

“When I look at a restaurant or a business where people ... are not following the guidelines, where people are just throwing caution to the wind, it makes me angry,” he said.

Just 17 percent of intensive-care beds were available Wednesday in Alabama — including just one in Montgomery — though hospitals can add more, said Dr. Don Williamson, head of the Alabama Hospital Association.

“There is nothing that I’m seeing that makes me think we are getting ahead of this,” he said.

In Arizona, emergency rooms are seeing about 1,200 suspected COVID-19 patients a day, compared with around 500 a month ago. If the trends continue, hospitals will probably exceed capacity within the next several weeks, said Dr. Joseph Gerald, a University of Arizona public health policy professor.

“We are in deep trouble,” said Gerald, urging the state to impose new restrictions on businesses, which Gov. Doug Ducey has refused to do.

Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious-disease expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, said he worries that states will squander what time they have to head off a much larger crisis.

“We’re still talking about subtlety, still arguing whether or not we should wear masks, and still not understanding that a vaccine is not going to rescue us,” he said.

The Texas governor initially barred local officials from fining or penalizing anyone for not wearing a mask as the state reopened. After cases began spiking, Abbott said last week that cities and counties could allow businesses to require masks. So did Arizona’s Ducey, who is a Republican, as is Abbott.

Some business owners are frustrated that officials didn’t do more, and sooner, to require masks.

“I can’t risk my staff, my clientele, myself, my family and everybody else in that chain just because other people are too inconvenienced to wear a piece of cloth on their face,” said Michael Neff, an owner of the Cottonmouth Club in Houston. He closed it this week so staffers could get tested after one had contact with an infected person.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, ordered people to wear masks in public as the daily count of hospitalizations and new cases hovered near records. In Florida, several counties and cities recently enacted mask requirements.

In a sign of the shift in the outbreak, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey announced they will ask visitors from states with high infection rates to quarantine themselves for 14 days. In March, Florida issued such an order for visitors from the New York City area, where cases were soaring.

The U.S. Justice Department took aim at Hawaii’s quarantine requirement for visitors, saying it discriminates against out-of-state residents. The Hawaii attorney general’s office says there’s no merit to the government’s arguments and a related lawsuit from out-of-state property owners.

Cases also are surging in some other parts of the world. India reported a record-breaking one-day increase of nearly 16,000 cases. Mexico and Iraq hit new highs as well.

But China appears to have tamed a new outbreak in Beijing, again demonstrating its ability to mobilize vast resources by testing nearly 2.5 million people in 11 days. China, where the virus emerged last year, reported 19 new cases nationwide Thursday. While up from the day before, there was no sign of further geographic spread.

Worldwide, over 9.4 million people have been confirmed infected, and nearly 500,000 have died, by Johns Hopkins’ count.

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Associated Press reporters around the world contributed.

Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

‘Coming back and biting us': US sees virus resurgence

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