States across country see rise in coronavirus cases

Roughly a dozen states faced their highest number of new daily cases of the coronavirus to date on Thursday, as the spread of COVID-19 amps up across the country.

The data, based on numbers from local health departments, shows an increase in cases in states in several regions of the country, from Massachusetts to Minnesota and from Mississippi to New Mexico.

Iowa — one of a handful of states where the governor has not enacted a stay-at-home order — had its highest number of new cases per day on Thursday, with 125 confirmed cases.

Minnesota also had its highest number of new cases, with 88 confirmed cases and 11 deaths. The state has had a total of 1,242 cases and 50 deaths.

Arizona had 292 new cases on Thursday, marking the highest number of daily new cases that the state has seen so far and a nearly 11 percent increase from Wednesday.

Neighboring Colorado and New Mexico were also hit hard on Thursday.

Colorado had 547 new cases and 35 deaths — the highest it’s seen on either metric thus far. New Mexico, meanwhile, had 124 new cases, its biggest number of new cases per day, though the state is still under a total of 1,000 confirmed cases.

Texas also had its worst day yet with 1,472 new confirmed cases and 33 deaths. Health officials warned earlier this month that the state was likely to be among the country’s next “hot spots” that would see a rapid increase in cases.

In the South, Alabama also saw its worst day yet when it comes to the number of new cases, with 339 new cases on Thursday.

The state, which enacted a stay-at-home order on Saturday, has seen a rapid increase in the number of new cases per day. Thursday’s numbers marked a nearly 13.6 percent increase compared to Wednesday, when 302 new cases were reported — a 13.7 percent increase compared to Tuesday.

South Carolina and Mississippi also had their highest number of new cases on Thursday, with South Carolina reporting 240 new cases and Mississippi 257 cases.

Further up the East Coast, Massachusetts had its highest number of daily new cases, with 2,151 new cases reported on Thursday. The state has seen 503 deaths due to the coronavirus with half of those, 243, happening within the last three days.

Rhode Island reported 277 new cases on Thursday, its highest number of daily new cases. Pennsylvania had 1,965 new cases and is expected to have more than 20,000 total confirmed cases on Friday.