Coronavirus updates: US state sees record rise in daily cases over last 2 weeks
ABC News analyzed COVID-19 trends across the United States.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
Over 33.4 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The criteria for diagnosis -- through clinical means or a lab test -- has varied from country-to-country. Still, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the virus has rapidly spread to every continent except Antarctica.
The United States is the worst-affected country, with more than 7.1 million diagnosed cases and at least 205,345 deaths.
California has the most cases of any U.S. state, with more than 812,000 people diagnosed, according to Johns Hopkins data. California is followed by Texas and Florida, with over 761,000 cases and over 701,000 cases, respectively.
Nearly 190 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 are being tracked by the World Health Organization, at least nine of which are in crucial phase three trials.
Latest headlines:
NYC schools could close depending on data
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he is waiting to see data from New York City schools before determining whether to keep them open.
"We will know tomorrow by the data," Cuomo said. "The schools must report to the state the data – they’re doing testing. The numbers will tell you the facts, and once you have the facts, you can operate logically. If the schools aren’t safe, I am not going to allow them to operate."
Even though New York’s statewide coronavirus infection rate is still around 1%, there are 20 zip codes with an average positive test rate of 5%, about five times the state average.
There were an additional 1,189 positive tests recorded in the last 24 hours out of a total of 88,231 tests, Cuomo said.
Two more people died from COVID-19 in that same timeframe.
Cuomo said the clusters in Rockland and Orange counties, as well as Brooklyn, are the probably the largest clusters in the state since the start of the pandemic.
The governor has deployed additional testing resources to these areas and called on local governments to target the clusters.
Cuomo also released the names of the seven doctors who will perform an extra review of any coronavirus vaccines that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- Cuomo said President Donald Trump threatened to withhold the vaccine from New Yorkers because the state plans to conduct its own review of the vaccine.
ABC News' J. Gabriel Ware contributed to this report.
New York City's daily positivity rate tops 3% for 1st time in months
New York City's daily rate of positive COVID-19 tests is above 3% "for the first time in months," Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Tuesday.
The mayor has threatened to close schools if the seven-day rolling average is 3% or higher citywide. While the daily positivity rate now stands at 3.25%, the seven-day average remains below the mark for school closures at 1.38%.
"Obviously, everyone is concerned about that," de Blasio told reporters. "We have to be on high alert to make sure we fight back this challenge."
De Blasio said nine neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens are to blame for the uptick in cases. He also announced unspecified fines for anyone who refuses to wear a face covering, starting Tuesday.
"This is an inflection point," he told reporters. "We have to take more action at this point and more serious action and we will be escalating with each day depending on what we see happening on the ground and the test results we are getting."
The surge comes as hundreds of thousands of public elementary school students returned to classrooms across New York City on Tuesday for the first time in six months. Middle and high schools open later this week. About half of all families with children in New York City's public school system opted for in-person classes, while the other half chose to keep kids home for remote learning.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
Analysis shows cases increasing in 32 US states
An ABC News analysis of COVID-19 trends across all 50 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico found there were increases in newly confirmed cases over the past two weeks in 32 states plus Puerto Rico.
The analysis also found increases in the daily positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in 20 states, increases in COVID-19 hospitalizations in 21 states and increases in daily COVID-19 death tolls in nine states.
The trends were all analyzed from data collected and published by the COVID Tracking Project over the past two weeks, using the linear regression trend line of the seven-day moving average.
One state -- Kansas -- saw a record rise in the daily number of new cases, while two states -- Missouri and North Dakota -- hit a record number of current COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The White House coronavirus task force's latest weekly briefing for governors, obtained ABC News on Monday night, identified 22 states as currently in the "red zone" for COVID-19 cases, indicating more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week. There were 18 states in the "red zone" in last week's briefing and 15 states in the one prior.
ABC News' Benjamin Bell, Brian Hartman, Soorin Kim, Josh Margolin and Arielle Mitropolous contributed to this report.
Tennessee Titans players, personnel test positive
The National Football League announced Tuesday that three players for the Tennessee Titans have tested positive for COVID-19 along with five of the team's non-player personnel.
As a result, the Titans will suspend in-person club activities starting Tuesday. The Minnesota Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, will also suspend in-person club activities.
"Both clubs are working closely with the NFL and the NFLPA, including our infectious disease experts, to evaluate close contacts, perform additional testing and monitor developments," the NFL said in a statement Tuesday. "All decisions will be made with health and safety as our primary consideration. We will continue to share updates as more information becomes available."
