ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. -- Florida and Texas reported record daily increases in confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday, the latest sign that the virus is surging in many parts of the United States, casting a pall over Fourth of July celebrations.
Officials and health authorities had warned people to take precautions or simply stay home on Independence Day, as confirmed cases climbed in dozens of states. The U.S. reported more than 50,000 confirmed cases Saturday for the third day in a row, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. has more than 2.8 million confirmed cases -- about a quarter of the more than 11 million worldwide infections, according to the tally. More than 528,000 people have died around the globe as of Saturday.
While the rise in cases in the U.S. partly reflects expanded testing, experts say there is evidence that the virus is also spreading more as states reopen their economies.
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Deaths have begun to rise in some states that have seen surges in cases -- including Texas, Arizona and Florida -- and the coming weeks will be telling. Still, some experts have expressed doubt that deaths will ever return to the mid-April peak of around 2,200 per day because of advances in treatment and because more young adults who are less vulnerable to serious complications from the illness are among those diagnosed recently.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said member states reported more than 212,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 around the world Saturday, the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic. The Geneva-based organization said more than 60% of the confirmed cases reports it received were in the Americas, which includes the United States and Brazil.
WHO's count can differ from other global case tallies because of reporting delays.
The sobering updates came as local officials and health experts across the U.S. sought to minimize opportunities for the virus to continue spreading on a holiday weekend that people typically spend eating at backyard gatherings or crowding elbow-to-elbow to view parades and fireworks shows.
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Many communities canceled those events and cautioned people against gathering on their own.
Texas, which reported a record daily increase of 8,258 confirmed coronavirus cases Saturday, is retreating from what had been one of the country's swiftest reopenings. Much of the state began mandating face coverings Friday, with a $250 fine for scofflaws.
FLORIDA NUMBERS
In Florida, which reported 11,445 confirmed infections Saturday, bars statewide are shut down and some regional attractions, such as Zoo Miami and Jungle Island, have closed. Officials in south Florida -- including in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys -- closed beaches through the weekend.
Other beaches in the state remained open. At St. Pete Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, parking spaces were scarce Saturday afternoon, and hundreds of people clustered in groups under umbrellas and in cabanas on the sand.
Deputies from the Pinellas County sheriff's office patrolled on ATVs, telling people they should stay with their own families or groups -- and away from others.
Keisha Pereira went to the beach from Osceola County -- more than 100 miles inland -- with her daughter and two other children, and said the group planned to stay away from others. She took along hand sanitizer and masks in case they went somewhere other than the beach.
"We're going to stay with each other," she said. "I feel pretty safe outside."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ruled out reimposing a state lockdown, but hospitals and local officials were taking note of the rising trend in cases.
Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade County, which operates one of Florida's biggest hospitals, said it will limit inpatient surgeries and procedures to emergency and urgent cases starting Monday.
The number of patients in intensive-care unit beds rose to 319 from 306, the 11th-straight day of increases. Covid-19 patients on ventilators climbed to 158 from 138 a day earlier, the sixth-straight jump, according to the county's daily report Saturday, based on self-reporting by hospitals.
In several of California's tourism-focused counties, economic woes prompted campaigns to persuade state residents to travel within its borders. But public health experts and mayors of popular beach towns Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay pleaded with people to stay home for the holiday.
Crista Luedtke said demand has been "bonkers" since reopening the 14-room Boon Hotel and Spa that she owns in the Sonoma County town of Guerneville. Guests must stay at least two nights and are assigned chaise lounges near the pool.
"Tourism is not dangerous," Luedtke said. "I think people not following the rules is dangerous."
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The holiday weekend also coincides with a big step back this week in California's efforts to reopen the state's economy. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a three-week closure of bars and many indoor establishments in counties that are home to about three-quarters of the state's population. Law enforcement workers turned away disappointed sun-seekers from some beaches that have been closed to discourage large crowds.
Local-level efforts to discourage holiday gatherings stand in contrast to President Donald Trump's holiday agenda, which included a fireworks display Friday night at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Saturday's "Salute to America" celebration with a presidential speech on the White House South Lawn and a fireworks display in downtown Washington.
BRITAIN REOPENINGS
In Britain on Saturday, some signs of normalcy returned as pubs and barbers reopened for the first time in more than three months.
Many people relished the easing of restrictions on public life that had shuttered U.K. restaurants and bars, although a trade group estimated that only about half of England's pubs elected to open on the first possible day. The ones that decided to start pouring at the earliest hour allowed -- 6 a.m. -- had customers to serve.
"Let's not blow it now," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said as some in England rushed to restaurants or barbers.
Critics pointed to the experience elsewhere in Europe and in some U.S. states, where the reopening of bars and restaurants is blamed for a spike in infections from patrons losing their inhibitions among strangers and abandoning social distancing after imbibing a few drinks.
But other countries continued to report record highs in new confirmed cases, including South Africa and India. In Australia and northeast Spain, authorities ordered lockdowns for specific counties or communities aimed at stomping out increases in cases.
Authorities in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba said they are collecting about 17 bodies per day during the pandemic. Relatives of one apparent victim of the virus left his coffin in the street for several hours Saturday to protest difficulties in getting him buried.
Police Col. Ivan Rojas said the demand "is collapsing the police personnel and funeral workers" in the city of some 630,000 people.
The Andean nation has reported nearly 37,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 and more than 1,300 deaths.
In South Africa, a growing hot spot as the pandemic picks up speed in parts of Africa, confirmed that cases have climbed to more than 187,000, with a record 9,063 reported in the most recent 24-hour period.
If Africa's most developed country is struggling to manage the pandemic, that's ominous for less-prepared African nations. Confirmed cases across the 54-nation continent are now above 433,000.
India also reported its highest single-day spike, with 22,771 new confirmed cases for a total of more than 648,000, including 18,655 deaths.
Russia marked a milestone as the death toll rose above 10,000. The national coronavirus task force also reported 6,632 new infections, raising the total for the outbreak to 674,515.
Russia's caseload is the world's third-largest behind the United States and Brazil, but its reported deaths are lower than many other countries. Officials have denied speculation that the figures are being manipulated.
ELSEWHERE IN WORLD
Elsewhere, authorities targeted communities for special measures as virus clusters emerged.
Australia's Victoria state locked down nine public housing towers and three more Melbourne suburbs after 108 new cases. Premier Daniel Andrews said 3,000 people in the towers will go into "hard lockdown," meaning "there will be no one allowed in ... and no one allowed out."
Authorities in northeast Spain ordered the lockdown of El Segria county around the city of Lleida, home to more than 200,000 people, after health officials recorded a jump in 60 cases in 24 hours. The outbreaks are linked to agricultural workers in the rural area.
And Tokyo confirmed 131 new cases, exceeding 100 for the third day in a row and hitting a new two-month high, prompting Gov. Yuriko Koike to ask residents to avoid nonessential out-of-town visits.
Concerns are rising about a resurgence of infections as Japan is now nearly back to business as usual after its state of emergency was lifted in May.
France said it is sending medics to its South American territory of French Guiana, where infections have surged as the virus swept neighboring Brazil.
Of the roughly 5,000 new cases confirmed across France over the past week, 1,400 were in French Guiana, with a population of just 300,000, according to the health agency. The military is flying patients from saturated facilities to the French Caribbean island of Martinique for treatment.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said "the way our country reacted to the pandemic has largely proved to be right." The country, which has more than 197,000 confirmed cases and five times fewer deaths than Britain, has started testing asymptomatic people in care homes.
Merkel paid tribute to the elderly, who like elsewhere in the world, have been particularly hard hit. "The most painful thing was surely not to be able to see children and grandchildren for many weeks," she said.
Determined to enjoy a break from months of uncertainty, thousands of tourists waited at the Bulgaria-Greece border for up to five hours under the scorching sun after setting off for Greece's beaches.
Information for this article was contributed by Tamara Lush, Kim Chandler, Cara Anna and Kathleen Foody of The Associated Press; and by Steve Geimann of Bloomberg News.
