NEW YORK • About half a dozen states, including Texas and Arizona, are grappling with a rising number of coronavirus patients filling hospital beds, fanning concerns that the reopening of the United States economy may spark a second wave of infections.
A recent spike in cases in about a dozen states partially reflects increased testing.
But many of those states are also seeing rising hospitalisations, and some are beginning to run short on intensive care unit beds.
Texas has seen record hospitalisations for three days in a row, and in North Carolina, only 13 per cent of the state's ICU beds are available, due to severe Covid-19 cases.
Arizona has seen a record number of hospitalisations at 1,291.
The state health director told hospitals this week to activate emergency plans and increase ICU capacity. About three-quarters of the state's ICU beds are filled, according to the state website.
"You are really crossing a threshold in Arizona," said Dr Jared Baeten, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington.
"The alarming thing would be if the numbers start to rise in places that have clearly already peaked and are on their downtrend," he said, referring to New York and other north-eastern states where new cases and deaths have plummeted.
Health experts worry there could be a further rise in infections from nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality that packed people together since two weeks ago.
Arizona, Utah and New Mexico all posted a rise in new cases of 40 per cent or higher for the week ending on Sunday, compared with the prior seven days, according to a Reuters analysis.
New cases rose in Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina and North Carolina by more than 30 per cent in the past week.
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COVID-19 TALLY
>2m
Total coronavirus cases in the United States
116k
Total virus deaths in the US
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases official, told Canada's CBC news that more cases are inevitable as restrictions are lifted.
"We also as a whole have been going down with cases," Dr Fauci said.
"But I think what you mentioned about some states now having an increase in the number of cases makes one pause and be a little bit concerned."
Even if hospitals are not overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, more hospitalisations mean more deaths in the coming weeks and months, said Dr Spencer Fox, research associate at the University of Texas at Austin.
"We are starting to see very worrying signs about the course the pandemic is taking in cities and states in the US and around the world," he said.
"When you start seeing those signs, you need to act fairly quickly."
Total coronavirus cases and deaths in the US are now over two million and 116,000, respectively, by far the most in the world.
The number of deaths could exceed 200,000 at some point in September, according to Dr Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
Dr Jha told CNN that the US was the only major country to reopen without getting its case growth to a controlled level - defined as a rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus remaining at 5 per cent or lower for at least 14 days.
Nationally, that figure has been between 4 per cent and 7 per cent in recent weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.
Health officials have stressed that wearing masks in public and staying physically apart can greatly reduce transmissions, but many states have not required masks.
"I want the reopening to be successful," said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top executive for the county that encompasses Houston.
"But I am growing increasingly concerned that we may be approaching the precipice of a disaster."
REUTERS
