Florida on Saturday became the US state with the second-highest official coronavirus case count, passing New York, once the country’s epicenter early in the pandemic.
California, with the most official cases (more than 440,000) and largest population, surpassed New York in case count a few days ago.
The states with the most recorded cases now align more closely with population rank. Florida is the country’s third-most populous, and New York is fourth.
Florida has reported 414,511 cases since the pandemic’s start, above New York’s 411,200, according to state health agencies.
In the past few weeks, infection rates have been rising, especially in parts of the South and West, and Covid-19 hospitalizations nationwide have neared levels not seen since April. This has moved many states and cities to roll back reopenings, add mask mandates, and wrestle with how or whether to open schools for in-person classes.
Yet, case rates are starting to plateau in four states that have seen large increases recently — Texas, California, Arizona and Florida — Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said on Friday.
Birx compared those states’ situations to New York’s outbreak in the spring, adding: “It’s very serious and it’s very real.”
Texas, the state with the second-highest population, has the fourth-highest official case count at more than 380,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
