U.S. set to hit 3 million Covid-19 cases

The U.S. is about to cross the 3 million mark with Covid-19 cases, almost exactly a month after it recorded 2 million cases. More than 130,000 people have died, and states in the South and West — especially Florida and Texas — continue to be dealing with record numbers of cases and hospitalizations. Texas, for instance reported a 47% increase in hospitalizations yesterday compared to last Monday, and Florida posted a record high of nearly 11,500 cases on July 4. In response, the mayor of Miami-Dade County — which has seen 25% of Florida's nearly 207,000 cases — yesterday announced rolling back business openings, including of restaurants and bars.

Here's what else is happening with the coronavirus today:

The pandemic and its economic fallout has exacerbated period poverty among marginalized communities. People who have struggled to afford menstrual products — which aren't covered by national food stamp programs and which are subject to sales tax in many states — are now at even more of a loss. “If people have to stand in line for food, it’s the same population that would need menstrual hygiene supplies,” one expert tells STAT's Theresa Gaffney.
In the month between February and March this year, 300,000 new patients received hydroxycholoroquine from retail pharmacies in the U.S., according to a new analysis. At the same time, only around 380,000 people had a prescription for the malaria drug in the four months between October 2019 and February 2020. And although the study didn't look at why there was an increase in prescriptions in February, the analysis found that states with the highest Covid-19 cases also had the highest dispensing rates of the drug.
The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Nurses Association sent an open letter to the American public urging them to wear masks, maintain physical distancing, and wash their hands in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19. "We are not powerless in this public health crisis, and we can defeat it in the same way we defeated previous threats to public health—by allowing science and evidence to shape our decisions and inform our actions," the letter states.