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| Revelers enjoy the beach at Coney Island, Saturday, July 4, 2020, (AP Photo/John Minchillo) |
The W.H.O. has resisted mounting evidence that viral particles floating indoors are infectious, some scientists say.
The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm what many scientists have been saying for months: The virus lingers in the air indoors, infecting those nearby.
If airborne transmission is a significant factor in the pandemic, especially in crowded spaces with poor ventilation, the consequences for containment will be significant. Masks may be needed indoors, even in socially-distant settings. Health care workers may need N95 masks that filter out even the smallest respiratory droplets as they care for coronavirus patients.
Ventilation systems in schools, nursing homes, residences and businesses may need to minimize recirculating air and add powerful new filters. Ultraviolet lights may be needed to kill viral particles floating in tiny droplets indoors.
The fullest look yet at the racial inequity of the coronavirus.
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Early numbers had shown that Black and Latino people were being harmed by the coronavirus at higher rates, but new federal data — made available after The New York Times sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — reveals a clearer and more complete picture: Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in a widespread manner that spans the country, throughout hundreds of counties in urban, suburban and rural areas, and across all age groups.
Coronavirus cases per 10,000 people
Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to the new data, which provides detailed characteristics of 640,000 infections detected in nearly 1,000 U.S. counties. And Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people, the data shows.
The disparities persist across state lines and regions. They exist in rural towns on the Great Plains, in suburban counties, like Fairfax County, Va., and in many of the country’s biggest cities.
“Systemic racism doesn’t just evidence itself in the criminal justice system,” said Quinton Lucas, who is the third Black mayor of Kansas City, Mo., which is in a state where 40 percent of those infected are Black or Latino even though those groups make up just 16 percent of the state’s population. “It’s something that we’re seeing taking lives in not just urban America, but rural America, and all types of parts where, frankly, people deserve an equal opportunity to live — to get health care, to get testing, to get tracing.”
UPDATES
Trump said Saturday that his administration had “made a lot of progress” on controlling the novel coronavirus pandemic, even as the seven-day average of cases in the United States set a record for the 26th straight day.
Officials and health experts watched nervously to see whether July 4 gatherings would increase the spread while the virus continued to spiral out of control in much of the country, particularly in the South. Several states experienced record numbers of confirmed infections and hospitalizations.
Here are some significant developments:
Florida logged another daily high number of new cases. Hospitalizations in Arizona set a record. Intensive care unit capacity at the world’s largest medical center, in Houston, was exceeded at one point in the day.
Several California municipalities dismissed requests from higher governments to forgo fireworks shows or close beach parking lots to promote social distancing, local news outlets in the state reported.
As the United States reported 48,640 new covid-19 cases on Sunday, Arizona and Nevada reported their highest numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalizations to date. Seven-day case averages in 12 states hit new highs, with the most significant upticks reported in West Virginia, Tennessee and Montana.
As Texas continues to report record-breaking numbers of new cases, the mayors of Austin and Houston are warning that their cities’ health care systems could soon be overwhelmed.