Covid-19 Infections Accelerate: U.S. Cases Now Top 10 Million

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 29: In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, Sailors assigned to the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) treat the first patient from Los Angeles medical facilities March 29. Mercy deployed in support of the nation's COVID-19 response efforts, and will serve as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals. This allows shore base hospitals to focus their efforts on COVID-19 cases. One of the Department of Defense's missions is Defense Support of Civil Authorities. DoD is supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal agency, as well as state, local and public health authorities in helping protect the health and safety of the American people. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

More than 10 million Americans have now contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus, and the latest surge in the pandemic is accelerating.

It took just 10 days for the latest million cases to appear. That’s the highest rate of new positive tests yet; rising from the first million to the second took six weeks.

“The grim milestone came on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million,” reports the Reuters news agency, which tallied the latest figures.

The number of U.S. Covid deaths is approaching 240,000 and is nearly certain to top a quarter-million in the next week to 10 days.

“The Great Lakes, Great Plains and Mountain West states are where the virus has been spreading the fastest recently,” says the New York Times.

“North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin have led the country for weeks in the number of new cases relative to their population, and Iowa has recently shot up to match Wisconsin.”