Peter Wells in New York
California and Texas reported increases in cases on Monday that pulled back from record jumps in infections over the weekend, while Florida reported its biggest one-day jump in deaths in more than a month.
The US states, which rank first, second and third by population — and coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic — have begun to exhibit some of the worrying metrics they displayed during the summer, when they led a surge in cases throughout the sunbelt.
California reported a further 8,337 cases on Monday, down from 14,319 on Sunday and compared with 9,890 on Monday last week. The state reported a record 15,442 infections on Saturday, soaring past the previous record of 12,807 during its summer peak in late July.
Texas reported 6,576 new cases on Monday, down from 8,554 on Sunday and compared with 6,858 on Monday last week. The state, which ranks second in the US by population, set a record of 12,597 new cases on November 21.
Authorities also revealed 128 historical cases, which are not included in the daily number, including 104 from the region around Houston.
Florida’s health department this afternoon revealed a further 6,331 cases, close to the 6,374 on Sunday and compared with 4,530 a week earlier.
Unlike California and Texas, the Sunshine State has not reported more than 10,000 cases in a single day since the worst of its summer outbreak in July, according to Financial Times analysis of Covid Tracking Project data.
Florida authorities on Monday attributed a further 96 deaths to coronavirus. That is the biggest one-day increase in fatalities since October 16, and excluding October 22, when technical difficulties over the weekend resulted in two days of data being reported in one go.
The death tolls in Texas and California rose by 50 and 32, respectively, on Monday. Last week, the two states reported daily increases in deaths that were their highest in at least a month.
After New York, Texas, California and Florida have attributed the highest number of deaths to coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.