Coronavirus USA Update: US Death Toll Hits 29, New Cases Jump 58% In One Day

COVID-19 continues to rage in the rest of the world outside of China, which reported only 19 new cases Monday. There were 37,344 confirmed non-China global cases as of early Tuesday morning at about 4:00 a.m. ET as against the comparable 32,849 cases on Monday.

The United States wasn't exempted from the non-China case spike. It reported the 607 cases it had on Monday jumped to 959 on Tuesday at 7:13 p.m. ET, a 58% increase based on data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

U.S. deaths attributable to COVID-19 rose to 29 Tuesday from 25 Monday. As of Tuesday, there were 24 deaths in Washington (the national epicenter), 2 deaths each in California and Florida and one death in New Jersey. The 28th and 29th deaths reported Tuesday were from Washington, specifically in King County, which accounts for 22 out of the country's 29 total COVID-19 deaths. Of the 22 deaths reported in King County, 19 are associated with the Life Care Center of Kirkland.

The new fatalities were a woman and a man, both in their 80s. This woman was a resident of Issaquah Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The male fatality was a resident of Ida Culver House.

As of Tuesday, 36 states and Washington D.C. have confirmed the existence of COVID-19 cases in their populations. The number of states and D.C. on Sunday with confirmed cases stood at 33. On Monday, Iowa and Ohio reported their first cases of COVID-19.

Medical experts explain the jump in new U.S. cases is mainly due to the increase in the number of people being tested for the coronavirus. It doesn't necessarily confirm a massive increase in the numbers of people hit by the disease. The increase in the number of tests being undertaken, however, does confirm the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has been spreading for weeks around the country.

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said there are currently enough COVID-19 test kits in 78 public health labs across the country to diagnose 75,000 cases of the virus. More capacity can be expected over the next two weeks as commercial labs begin to offer their own tests. She confirmed the increase in the number of people tested will also boost the number of confirmed cases.

A state-by-state breakdown of COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths:

• Arizona: 6
• California: 110 (including two deaths)
• Colorado: 15
• Connecticut: 2
• District of Columbia: 4
• Florida: 15 (including two deaths)
• Georgia: 17
• Hawaii: 2
• Illinois: 19
• Indiana: 6
• Iowa: 8
• Kansas: 2
• Kentucky: 8
• Louisiana: 3
• Maryland: 7
• Massachusetts: 92
• Minnesota: 3
• Missouri: 1
• Nebraska: 3
• Nevada: 4
• New Hampshire: 5
• New Jersey: 15 (including one death)
• New York: 173
• North Carolina: 7
• Ohio: 3
• Oklahoma: 2
• Oregon: 15
• Pennsylvania: 11
• Rhode Island: 5
• South Carolina: 9
• Tennessee: 7
• Texas: 16
• Utah: 2
• Vermont: 1
• Virginia: 8
• Washington state: 282 (including 24 deaths)
• Wisconsin: 3

Of the 118,101 total confirmed global COVID-19 cases Tuesday, 80,757 are in mainland China; 10,149 in Italy; 8,042 in Iran and 7,513 in the Republic of Korea. Total deaths worldwide stand at 4,262 persons. Of this total, 3,024 deaths are in Hubei, China (the outbreak's epicenter). There are 631 deaths in Italy and 291 deaths in Iran.