Even As States Start To Reopen, 20 Report An Increase In New Cases

Reuters: Where U.S. Coronavirus Cases Are On The Rise
Twenty U.S. states reported an increase in new cases of COVID-19 for the week ended May 24, up from 13 states in the prior week, as the death toll from the novel coronavirus approaches 100,000, according to a Reuters analysis. Alabama had the biggest weekly increase at 28%, Missouri’s new cases rose 27% and North Carolina’s rose 26%, according to the analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project, a volunteer-run effort to track the outbreak. New cases in Georgia, one of the first states to reopen, rose 21% after two weeks of declines. The state attributed the increase to a backlog of test results and more testing. (Canipe and Shumaker, 5/26)

The Hill: US Braces For COVID-19 'Slow Burn' 
The U.S. is likely to enter a period of “slow burn” of coronavirus cases through the summer, with coronavirus cases and deaths down from their peak but still taking a heavy toll, experts say. As the country passes the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths, experts say the pace of harm might be slower in the coming months, but there is unlikely to be a steep drop-off in the virus. There even could be some significant upticks as restrictions on businesses and movement are eased around the country. Risk looms even higher in the fall and winter, as experts expect a new spike in cases of the virus as the weather gets colder, combined with the added damage from flu season. (Sullivan, 5/26)

Stat: New Research Rewrites History Of When Covid-19 Took Off In The U.S.
New research has poured cold water on the theory that the Covid-19 outbreak in Washington state — the country’s first — was triggered by the very first confirmed case of the infection in the country. Instead, it suggests the person who ignited the first chain of sustained transmission in the United States probably returned to the country in mid-February, a month later. The work adds to evidence that the United States missed opportunities to stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from taking root in this country — and that those opportunities persisted for longer than has been recognized up until now. (Branswell, 5/26)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus ‘Silent Spreaders’ A Danger As California Reopens
The role of “silent spreaders” in transmitting the coronavirus is becoming an even greater issue for health officials as they ease stay-at-home rules and slowly reopen the economy. Health officials have stressed the importance of creating an army of disease detectives — investigators who can interview newly infected people and find their close contacts, telling them to quarantine themselves for 14 days in hopes of keeping other people from getting infected. (Lin, 5/26)

The Hill: Packed Crowds Spark Pandemic Alarms As States Reopen 
Health experts are growing alarmed after seeing photos and videos of big crowds over Memorial Day weekend. People are significantly less likely to get the coronavirus while outside, but the crowds of people in packed bars and pools in Missouri, boardwalks in Virginia and a race track in North Carolina are renewing concerns about whether safety measures to contain the virus are being taken seriously. (Weixel, 5/26)

The New York Times: ‘It’s The Death Towers’: How The Bronx Became New York’s Virus Hot Spot
Working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic can be hazardous, but staying home isn’t safe either for the emergency responders, pharmacists, home health aides, grocery clerks and delivery men who fill River Park Towers in the Bronx. Even a ride down the elevator is risky. Residents often must wait up to an hour to squeeze into small, poorly ventilated cars that break down frequently, with people crowding the hallways like commuters trying to push into the subway at rush hour. There is talk that as many as 100 residents have been sickened by the coronavirus at the two massive towers rising above the Morris Heights neighborhood along the Harlem River. (de Freytas-Tamura, Hu and Cook, 5/26)

ABC News: How The Small Ski Town Of Sun Valley, Idaho Became A COVID-19 Hot Spot 
In early March, the ski town of Sun Valley, Idaho, was ending its peak season, welcoming visitors from across the United States and Europe. Then COVID-19 spread across the community like wildfire, and Sun Valley's visitors brought it home with them. Within weeks, the county of 22,000 had one of the highest infection rates in the nation. (Yang and Scott, 5/26)

PBS NewsHour: Meat-Processing Plants Remain Source Of Concern For New COVID-19 Outbreaks
The pace of new U.S. fatalities from COVID-19 has been slowing as the pandemic's toll nears a milestone of 100,000 deaths. Still, restrictions are being lifted, and more economic activity is resuming. On Tuesday, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange was partially opened for the first time since March. But concerns remain, especially around meat-packing facilities. (Sy, 5/26)

The Washington Post: WHO Warns Of Second Peak, Cautions Against Scaling Back Restrictions Too Soon
The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned nations against scaling back coronavirus restrictions too quickly, saying a premature push to return to normalcy could fuel a rapid acceleration of new cases. “We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now that it’s going to keep going down,” Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program, told reporters during a briefing. (Dennis, Flynn and Noack, 5/26)

CIDRAP: Stay-Home Orders Likely Slowed COVID-19 Spread, Study Finds
After 42 US states and Washington, DC, issued stay-at-home orders in response to the rising death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall community infection rate declined by about 58%, according to a new study in the American Journal of Infection Control. The researchers, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, used state government websites and case counts from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security to model the effects of mandatory social isolation on virus mitigation. (Van Beusekom, 5/26)