Daily US Times: US coronavirus cases already may have been up to 20 million, according to the latest estimate by health officials.
The US has recorded 2.4m confirmed infections and 122,370 deaths but the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the true number of cases is likely to be 10 times higher than the reported figure.
It comes as Texas halted its reopening as hospitalisations and infections surged.
Some western and southern states of the country have been reporting record numbers of cases in recent days.
The University of Washington predicts 180,000 US deaths by October – or 146,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks.
US coronavirus cases are raising amid many states started to reopening.
What did the CDC say?
CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield said: “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually were 10 other infections.”
This was because testing was restricted to people with symptoms and asymptomatic carriers were not tested, he stated.
“We probably recognized about 10% of the outbreak by the methods that we use to diagnosis between the March, April and May.”
Dr Redfield said that between 5% and 8% of the population had been exposed to the coronavirus and urged Americans to wear masks, keep social distancing and washing hands.
He said: “As we go into the fall, in the winter, these are going to be really, really important defence mechanisms.”
What is happening in Texas?
The state, has seen thousands of new cases, prompting Republican Governor Greg Abbott to call a temporary halt to its reopening. Texas has been at the forefront of moves to end lockdown measures, but virus resurgence led to halt the reopening.
Governor Abbott said: “This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business.”
On Thursday, Texas confirmed a record 5,996 new cases. It also recorded 47 new deaths, the highest daily toll for a month.
The state has also seen a record number of people requiring hospital treatment for 13 days in a row.
Elective surgery has been suspended in the Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio areas to free up beds.
Other states, including Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Wyoming, have all recorded record daily increases in the number of confirmed cases this week.
More than 36,000 new US cases were confirmed on Wednesday – not far off the record number of 36,426 cases recorded on 24 April.
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