More than 1,000 deaths in the United States have now been linked to the coronavirus, a figure that continues to rise as thousands of new cases are reported each day. As of Thursday afternoon, at least 81,578 people across every state, plus Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories, have tested positive for the virus, according to a New York Times database, and at least 1,180 patients with the virus have died.
The death toll, which has roughly quadrupled over the last week, has been especially severe in a handful of states, including New York, New Jersey, Washington, Louisiana, California. But all across the country, case numbers are rising quickly as containment efforts falter, the virus spreads and testing ramps up.
New York State, which has been especially aggressive in testing, announced thousands more cases on Thursday. That state accounts for about half of the country’s known coronavirus cases.
The outbreak looks vastly different in the United States than it did even a month ago. At the start of March, with extremely limited testing available, only 70 cases had been reported in the country, most of them tied to overseas travel.
While about half of the deaths tied to coronavirus have been in New York or Washington, more states and territories have reported fatal cases in recent days. In Michigan, which had reported no deaths a week ago, the death toll spiked to 24 by Wednesday. In Guam, the territory’s first death was announced on Sunday. In Wisconsin, the state’s first five deaths were announced in recent days.
Many of the fatal cases were in people over age 70, including several in their 90s, but middle-aged adults have also been dying. In recent days, a man in his 50s from the Phoenix area, a 46-year-old man on Long Island and a Maryland woman in her 40s have all died.
“The spread of Covid-19 is broad,” said Barbara Ferrer, the public health director in Los Angeles County, Calif., where at least five people with the coronavirus have died. “Everyone should assume that anyone can have Covid-19, and anyone could unintentionally infect others.”