The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating around the world, with two of the highest daily case jumps taking place this week. The record highs are coming from surging outbreaks across Latin America, Africa, South Asia and the United States. According to data tracked by The New York Times, more than 140,000 cases were reported globally on Tuesday and another 166,000 were posted on Wednesday, a record high for the pandemic since it started.
In the United States, cases continue to rise at record rates in Southern and Western states, but mandatory mask-usage has become a political issue.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that residents will be required to wear a mask in public. The state passed a new one-day record on Wednesday, prompting the release of new legislation. Similar rulings took place in other hotspot states like Arizona, Florida and North Carolina.
Yet, in Texas, another state that is continuing to report record hospitalization and confirmed case rates, Governor Greg Abbott has banned local governments from penalizing residents for refusing to wear masks. Similarly, Nebraska's Governor Pete Rickettes announced that any government office that refuses to service those who choose to not wear masks will not receive CARES act funding.
President Donald Trump stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that he believed that some people weak masks not as a precaution but to show their disapproval of him. Trump also criticized masks wearing entirely, implying that those who wear one are more likely to get infected.
"They put their finger on the mask, and they take them off, and then they start touching their eyes and touching their nose and their mouth. And then they don't know how they caught [the coronavirus]?," Trump stated.
Current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines advice for people to wear cloth face coverings when social distancing cannot be maintain to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Total Global Cases: Over 8.57 Million
Total Deaths: Over 456,000
Total Recovered: Over 4.53 Million
United Kingdom Contact Tracing
The United Kingdom announced on Thursday that it will join other countries and create a contact-tracing app that will support the Bluetooth-enabled software designed by Apple
Previously, the country had designed an app that would help lift lockdown orders, but drew criticism from residents over potential privacy risks.
The U.K. did not want to use the tech giants software at first because of its decentralized nature, arguing that more data collected from users would be better the track the disease. Now, the country is joined by nations like Germany and Italy to launch apps that will be adopted by their residents while still protecting their privacy.
"Countries across the globe have faced challenges in developing an app which gets all of these elements right," U.K. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock said in a statement, reported by The New York Times. "Through ongoing international collaboration we hope to learn, improve and find a solution which will strengthen our global response to this virus."
