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U.S. COVID-19 death toll tops 1,000 for third straight day

A COVID-19 testing site opens in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday for residents of Broward County. The state of Florida had a record number of hospital admissions on Thursday. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI
A COVID-19 testing site opens in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday for residents of Broward County. The state of Florida had a record number of hospital admissions on Thursday. Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo

July 24 (UPI) -- Florida on Friday reported its largest single-day figure for new hospital admissions for COVID-19 and deaths nationwide surpassed 1,000 for the third day in a row.

Florida officials said another 581 patients were admitted to hospitals on Thursday, breaking the previous mark of 517. The state also reported 12,444 new cases, mostly in Miami-Dade County (3,300 cases), which pushed the Florida total to 402,000.

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Nationally, there have so far been 4.057 million COVID-19 cases and 144,500 deaths, according to updated figures Friday by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Tracking data said more than 1,000 new deaths were reported Thursday for a third consecutive day.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, told The Washington Post Friday that states with rising cases should consider tightening restrictions.

"You don't necessarily have to go all the way back to a complete shutdown, but you certainly have to call a pause and maybe even a backing up a bit," he said.

Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said Friday surges of new cases have begun to level off.

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"We're already starting to see some plateauing in these critical four states that have suffered under the last four weeks" she told NBC's Today, acknowledging the surge is "very real."

She also said it's "still an open question" how much children under the age of 10 can spread the illness.

"We know that children under 18 are less sick, but there are some that suffer terrible consequences if they have underlying conditions," Birx said. "What I can't tell you for sure ... is whether children under 10 in the United States don't spread the virus the same as children over 10."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said his state hasn't yet brought its surge under control. There were nearly 200 new deaths in Texas Thursday.

"I feel like we have reached a plateau where we've contained the exponential growth of COVID at this particular time, but we have a lot more work to do in the coming weeks," Abbott told CNBC. "We don't have COVID conquered right now."

Texas' seven-day case average has declined about 3% this week, according to Johns Hopkins.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday he would open an additional 1 1/2 miles of city streets for a program allow children space to play outside. Under the "Open Play Streets" program, activities like frisbee and kickball are allowed in ways that conform with distancing guidelines.

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"You have reading corners and dance classes with everything done the smart way," de Blasio said in his daily update. "This is the reality of today, but we're going to make it work."

De Blasio also cited falling COVID-19 figures -- 72 new hospitalizations, about 300 intensive care patients and a 2% positivity rate Thursday. New York City was the U.S. epicenter for the outbreak a few weeks ago.

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