Coronavirus cases slowed down this week, but they're still rising
23 July 2020
Data: The COVID Tracking Project, state health departments; Map: Andrew Witherspoon, Danielle Alberti, Sara Wise/Axios
The pace of new coronavirus cases slowed over the past week, but things are still getting worse in most of the country.
The big picture: After weeks of explosive growth, the number of new infections in the U.S. is still climbing — but not quite as fast as it has been.
By the numbers: The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. shot up by over 20% per week for the past month.
- This week, it rose by a comparatively modest 7%.
- That doesn't mean we're getting better. The U.S. may be leveling off, but it’s leveling off at a very high rate of infection. The country is averaging roughly 66,000 new cases per day.
Several of the worst hotspots experienced slower growth this week than they have throughout July.
- New confirmed infections rose by 3% last week in Texas, and by 9% in California. Florida’s caseload did not change. Arizona saw its second consecutive week of improvement.
- Arizona was one of only five states to experience a significant decline in new infections over the past week, while 24 states, along with Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, saw increases of at least 10%.
Between the lines: Axios uses a rolling seven-day average to minimize the effects of any abnormalities in how and when new cases are reported.
The bottom line: 66,000 new cases per day is a recipe for overworked hospitals, strained supply lines, prolonged school closures and, of course, thousands of preventable deaths.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly 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.