Arizona, Texas, Florida again report record-high COVID-19 cases

Arizona, Texas and Florida are all reporting record-high single-day increases in COVID-19 cases, surpassing previous records set just a few days ago.

The three states all reported their highest new case numbers yet on Thursday and Friday, worrying public health experts that the outbreaks there are growing out of control.

“These are on the cusp of getting out of control,” former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said Thursday on CNBC. “I think these states still have a week or two to take actions to try to get these under control,” he said, describing the rising cases as “outbreaks.”

Arizona reported 3,246 new COVID-19 cases Friday morning, surpassing the record-high of 2,519 new cases reported the day before.

Texas reported 3,516 new COVID cases Thursday evening, an increase from the previous record-high of 3,129, which was reported Wednesday.

In Florida, 3,822 new cases were reported Friday, the highest single-day increase for the state, beating a record set Thursday of 3,207 new cases.

Governors in those states have largely attributed increases in cases to increases in testing, but public health experts note that the percentage of tests coming back positive is also increasing, a sign of a growing outbreak.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) acknowledged the increased positivity rate Friday in a news conference, attributing it to “discrete outbreaks.”

“As you test more, you find more,” he said. 

“That’s something basically we’ve believed from the beginning,” but he added that the positivity rate is increasing more among young people. 

“I think that we’ve started to see some erosion in social distancing from probably some of the younger population,” he said. 

Hospitalizations are also increasing in both Arizona and Texas, another sign of an outbreak. Florida doesn’t release information on daily hospitalizations. 

Updated at 1:59 pm.