Washington, June 24 (RHC)-- In the U.S., twenty-nine states are reporting surges in coronavirus cases as the country continues to reopen.  President Donald Trump once again blamed increased testing for elevated case numbers, even as the White House dismissed a remark by Trump at his Tulsa rally over the weekend about “slowing down testing” as a “joke.” 

The U.S. now has over 2.3 million confirmed cases and over 120,000 reported deaths — more than twice the number of cases and fatalities than the second-hardest-hit country, Brazil. 

The World Health Organization earlier this week warned against “politicizing” the pandemic.  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself; it’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership.  We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.”

A new study out of Harvard University confirms the virus continues to disproportionately hit Black and Latinx communities, highlighting the risk to younger people.  Latinx people aged 35 to 44 have a mortality rate nearly eight times higher than white people, while Black people in the same age group have a mortality rate nine times higher than white people. 

This comes as another study on the economic impacts of the coronavirus reveals around half of New York City’s immigrants are now unemployed due to the pandemic.

In the South, new outbreaks have been observed in states including Georgia, Florida and Texas. Florida hit the 100,000-infection milestone on Monday.  Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said COVID-19 is spreading at an “unacceptable rate,” yet he has no plans to shut down the state.