Texas was one of the first states to push for “re-opening” after the COVID-19 crisis. However, not surprisingly, after loosening safety requirements intended to limit the spread of the disease, COVID-19 infection rates have significantly increased.
Texas, Arizona and Oregon saw significant spikes last week in new coronavirus infections, while cases also continued to climb in a handful of states where steady increases have become the norm.
Why it matters: Nationwide, new cases have plateaued over the past week. To get through this crisis and safely continue getting back out into the world, we need them to go down — a lot.
Between the lines: Improved testing can cause the number of confirmed cases in a particular state to rise, even if that state’s outbreak isn’t getting that much worse.
At least in Texas, however, the spike in recorded cases does seem to reflect an actual increase in new infections — not just better testing.
Testing in Texas increased by 36% over the past week, while the number of confirmed infections rose by 51%.
Texas also saw an increase in the percentage of all coronavirus tests that came back positive. In a state where testing is improving and the underlying outbreak isn’t getting worse, you’d expect the share of positive tests to go down. (source)
Please be safe and continue to follow the CDC guidelines. This pandemic is far from over, and one does not need to make the situation any worse than what it already is.