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June 11 (UPI) -- The number of coronavirus cases in the United States passed the 2 million mark Thursday amid looser restrictions on social mobility. Nationally, the total number of confirmed coronavirus disease cases topped 2 million since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University -- more than twice the number of the next-highest nation, Brazil.
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Nearly 113,000 patients have died of COVID19 in the United States.
Florida has reported 1,300 new cases and Wednesday marked the seventh time in eight days that new cases surpassed 1,000. It was also the state's third-highest single-day jump in cases since the pandemic began.
In Arizona, public health officials in the Phoenix area urged residents to take stronger disease precautions as Maricopa County reported an average of almost 600 new daily cases in the last week, compared to 200 new cases per day before the spike.
Texas reported more than 2,100 hospitalizations on Wednesday, the third straight day of record levels. Hospitalizations have also gone up in Arkansas and California as all 50 states have begun easing quarantine restrictions, even though many have not met the White House criteria for reopening businesses.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington said in an updated outlook it expects the U.S. death toll to reach 170,000 by October if current easing trends continue.
Institute said a second wave of deaths is likely in September, following "fairly stable" levels through the end of August.
"If the U.S. is unable to check the growth in September, we could be facing worsening trends in October, November, and the following months if the pandemic, as we expect, follows pneumonia seasonality," said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray.
