Show an ad over header. AMP  

3 states set single-day coronavirus case records last week

23 August 2020
 Dan Ackermann
Data: Compiled by Axios; Map: Danielle Alberti and Naema Ahmed/Axios

Three states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project and state health departments. Hawaii and North Dakota both surpassed records set the previous week.

Why it matters: Dramatic single-day increases have become less frequent as the country's outbreak begins to slow down and hotspots improve.

Records broken:

  • Aug. 21: Iowa (991)
  • Aug. 20: North Dakota (274)
  • Aug. 19: Hawaii (394)
  • Aug. 18: None
  • Aug. 17: None
  • Aug. 16: None
  • Aug. 15: None. California saw its second-highest daily spike with 12,614 new cases.

Zoom in: Hospitalizations in North Dakota — which has seen record highs every week since mid-July — have steadily risen through August. Most of the state's active cases are people between 20 to 29 years old, per state data.

  • Hawaii's first jump in cases started at the end of July. All out-of-state visitors are ordered to quarantine for 14 days after arriving.
  • The number of people hospitalized daily in Iowa has continued to grow this month.

The big picture: New infections in the U.S. dropped by nearly 8% over the past week — the fourth straight week of nationwide improvement, Axios' Sam Baker and Andrew Witherspoon report.

What they're saying: "It will end. We will get out of this and we will return to normal. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Don’t throw caution to the wind. We can end this. The combination of pulling together with public health measures and the scientific advances of vaccines and therapies and preventions. I will guarantee you that," NIAID director Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post in an Instagram Live Q&A this week.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include COVID Tracking Project (CTP) data, in addition to data taken directly from state health departments. CTP began reporting non-resident cases as part of Alaska's total case count on July 16.

Go deeper: Many Americans still don't have coronavirus testing access

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.