Hospitalizations continued to rise and ICU beds were quickly filling as the nation reached the brink of 3 million coronavirus cases Wednesday.

The stunning milestone will hit less than six months after the first confirmed case was reported January 21, in Everett, Washington. The virus has killed more than 130,000 Americans.

In Florida, seeing an ominous surge in cases, at least 56 hospital intensive care units have reached capacity. Some Republican senators said they won't attend the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville next month.

Still, opposition to tighter restrictions aimed at stemming the surge remained stiff. One Louisiana lawmaker compared the treatment of people who refuse to wear masks to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. And multiple movie chains have filed suit in New Jersey, demanding the right to reopen.

Here are some recent developments:

A group of national movie theater chains filed a lawsuit against New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy for not allowing them to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.
New Zealand officials said they will press charges against a COVID-19 patient who escaped quarantine to go shopping.
San Francisco has indefinitely delayed reopening plans for outdoor bars and indoor restaurants indefinitely.

Pandemic rewrites rules for scientific advancement

The methodical process of going from a scientific hypothesis to consensus can take years. But a pandemic waits for no scientist, and researchers have been sharing information openly and finding ways to innovate. Since December, more than 5,000 manuscripts related to COVID-19 research have been submitted to medRxiv and another preprint server, bioRxiv. Online archives are where the first genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/08/covid-19-us-3-million-cases-florida-new-jersey/5391309002/