As the global coronavirus crisis ensues, the United States has become the hardest-hit country, with over 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections. It also overtook Italy as the country with the highest death toll on Saturday.
U.S. Overtakes Italy in Deaths
The U.S. has overtaken Italy in the number of fatalities due to the COVID-19 crisis. According to CNN, a tally by Johns Hopkins University on Saturday revealed that the country has lost 20,602 lives to the novel coronavirus.
So far, the United States registered at least 529,740 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with Wyoming being the only state with no recorded deaths.
The news came as a growing number of cases in Chicago are being linked to the Cook County Jail where hundreds of inmates have since tested positive of the novel virus and two detainees have passed away while waiting for test results.
Chicago County Jail Sees Over 470 Confirmed Cases
The Cook County Sheriff's Office on Saturday evening revealed that 15 more inmates have tested COVID-19 positive, NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV reported.
To date, the said prison facility has registered 304 coronavirus cases among detainees and 213 employees working under the Cook County Jail. The news came after a federal judge on Thursday denied a motion for the immediate release of detainees who are at high-risk of contracting the disease.
Health experts previously noted that Cook County Jail has the largest coronavirus cluster in the entire nation.
Cuomo Delivers Sad News
During his Saturday briefing regarding the coronavirus situation in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed that 783 more people succumbed to the COVID-19 strain.
According to NPR, Cuomo's update marks the fifth consecutive day that over 700 lives were lost to the novel virus in the state. The state is the hardest-hit in the U.S. and the death toll now stands at 8,627.
The state also has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with at least 181,026 infections.
New Jersey Reports Over 3,500 New Cases
On Saturday, the state of New Jersey registered 3,599 new coronavirus cases, bringing the state's total to 58,151. There were also 251 new deaths from the highly-infectious disease, nj.com reported.
In his daily briefing, Gov. Phil Murphy noted that despite thousands of new additional cases, small signs indicate that the infection rate is slowing down in the state.
New Jersey remains the second hardest-hit state in the U.S.
Michigan Reports Over 100 Deaths
For the sixth consecutive day, Michigan reported over 100 COVID-19 deaths, local outlet Booth Newspapers reported.
The Michigan Department of Health confirmed that 111 more people died over the past 24 hours and 1,210 new coronavirus cases were reported in the state. It is the third hardest-hit state in the country.
As of Saturday, the state registered at least 23,605 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,384 deaths.
Fauci Says Mitigation Methods may be Working
The University of Washington released a projection model regarding estimates on how many people will succumb to the novel coronavirus in the United States, with the model forecasting up to 60,000 deaths.
According to USA Today, the numbers are very much fewer than the White House projection around two weeks ago that saw between 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the country.
Direction of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci noted that the projections in the leading model, as well as "the real data" could be an indication that the COVID-19 action plan in the country is working, albeit gradually.
There are still different statements from the White House task force and other groups regarding the peak of daily deaths in the country.
