A school custodian and bus driver disinfected a classroom at Dover Elementary School, in Dover. Vt., on Thursday.
Photo: Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer/Associated PressThe U.S. reported nearly 56,000 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily tally in four days, as communities around the country face decisions on whether to reopen schools in the fall and testing trends for the virus vary across states.
Total cases in the U.S. topped 5.2 million, about a quarter of the world-wide total, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. For Aug. 12, the country reported 1,499 deaths, its highest daily count since May 27, with 1,518 deaths.
The seven-day average of new infections topped the 14-day average in 13 states and Washington, D.C., according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data, suggesting that cases were rising in those areas. When a seven-day average is higher than a 14-day average it suggests an increase. Looking at averages also helps smooth out data anomalies.
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
Testing trends across the country vary. In 17 states, the seven-day moving average of tests per 1,000 people was down from a week ago, according to Johns Hopkins. It was higher in 14 states.
“We need to keep up, if not accelerate, the testing pace,” said Dr. Mercedes Carnethon, vice chair of the department of preventive medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
Ms. Carnethon cited Vermont, where the virus’s prevalence has been low, as an example. “Even if a place has low rates of disease, we need to continue testing there” to monitor what is happening in the population, she said.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Twitter that all testing for the virus Thursday up to 4 p.m. was canceled because of thunderstorms.
States and residents have struggled with the delay in test-result turnaround times, however. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on Wednesday said Quest Diagnostics labs have taken between roughly eight and 10 days to give test results, and in some cases, more than that.
“It really makes those results kind of useless,” the governor said. Mr. Ricketts said the state is trying to reduce turnaround times through its own testing program, which for the last couple of weeks averaged about 3.5 days.
Quest didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources: Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering; the Lancet; Associated Press; U.S. Census
In North Carolina, the state’s health department corrected figures marking the cumulative number of coronavirus tests it has completed, reducing its total tally by more than 200,000. The error, which the department reported Wednesday, resulted from “a discrepancy between electronic and manual testing data” from LabCorp. Mandy Cohen, the state’s health department secretary, said the error didn’t impact other metrics, such as its testing positivity rate over time.
Dr. Cohen said the state would continue to work with LabCorp as it seeks to bolster its testing capabilities.
“With the absence of a federal strategy on testing, much of it was left to the states,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, at a press briefing Thursday. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without [LapCorp]. They took a huge load off of the state and allowed us to test more people which has been and continues to be desperately needed.”
Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the state attorney general’s office has asked to withdraw his lawsuit over Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s coronavirus restrictions for her city, which included a mandate requiring residents to wear face masks in public settings. In a statement Thursday, Mr. Kemp, a Republican, said his negotiations with the Democratic Ms. Bottoms reached a stalemate. A representative for Ms. Bottoms didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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While data have pointed to a slowing spread of the virus, it still continues to affect the U.S. economy. Weekly jobless claims fell to less than one million for the first time since March, around when the pandemic began in the U.S. Stocks were down Thursday.
The virus’s prevalence in the U.S. has also impacted the start of the school year, adding urgency to decisions on whether to send students back to classes.
The Defense Department said Thursday it would offer in-person instruction at half of its U.S.-based schools and all of its schools in Europe, a decision made after a monthslong assessment of which schools were safe to open.
As New York City schools prepare to reopen, Mayor Bill de Blasio said each public school would have a certified nurse on site, along with extra cleaning and other precautions. “We’re taking every precaution, but there’s a tremendous value to having a health professional present,” Mr. de Blasio said. A union that represents New York City principals, however, has urged the Democratic mayor to slow reopening plans until the end of September.
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In hard-hit Florida, schools are contending with an executive order requiring in-person instruction five days a week, which has resulted in at least three lawsuits and created confusion among school boards, parents and local officials.
Meanwhile, some Arizona schools planned to resume in-person teaching next week despite not meeting state-recommended benchmarks. No county in the state has achieved all benchmarks, which include two consecutive weeks with a percent positivity under 7% and a decline in cases, among other criteria, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Gov. Doug Ducey said he supports school districts and the decisions on returning to in-person instruction would be up to superintendents and principals.
“We’re not ignoring the benchmarks,” the Republican governor said at a press briefing Thursday. “Many of the districts are close on the benchmarks, and they’re making decisions.”
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden called for a national mask mandate for the next three months to get the coronavirus pandemic under control. “Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens,” the former vice president said Thursday.
Mr. Biden’s comments came after he and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) appeared together at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Del., for a pair of briefings on the state of the pandemic and the economic downturn. Among those briefing the two running mates via videoconference were former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
Mr. Biden cited a study by Columbia University published earlier this year that found that if the U.S. had put preventive measures in place a week or two earlier, they could have prevented tens of thousands of deaths. President Trump has called the study a “political hit job” and defended his response to the pandemic by saying he had moved earlier than other countries.
—David Hall contributed to this article.
Write to Jennifer Calfas at Jennifer.Calfas@wsj.com and Allison Prang at allison.prang@wsj.com
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