The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard for Saturday morning, July 11, at 7:35 a.m.:

Worldwide cases: 12,573,041      Worldwide deaths:  561,865

U.S. cases: 3,213,902    U.S. deaths:  134,420

According to the Dashboard, the reported worldwide cases increased by 230,009 in the last 24  hours, and 5,482 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported.

According to the Johns Hopkins Dashboard, the United States has added 69,430  cases in the last 24 hours, and deaths attributed to COVID-19 have increased by 743.  The country’s daily case count has continued to increase, with each day bringing a new peak.

Around the country, the situation is daunting.  California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida continue to have large increases in daily cases.  In Miami-Dade County, FL, the positivity rate of those tested for COVID-19 as of yesterday was around 33%.  In  Arizona, it was 27%.  In California, the state is conducting around 100,000 COVID-19 tests a day, with around 8% positivity, which varies from county to county.

And because of the demand for testing, it’s taking longer for people to get a test–waiting in line for hours–and in Arizona, it is now taking up to 7 days to get the results, just because of the demand on the labs.  Hawaii may be impacted by the demand for tests, with Roche Diagnostics reducing the supply of testing materials to Diagnostic Laboratory Services because the supplies are needed on the mainland.

Hawaii has a relatively low number of cases at 1,158, with 847 released from isolation, i.e. people no longer being monitored by the State Department of Health.

Gov. David Ige had initially announced the state would reopen tourism on August 1, with no 14-day quarantine for incoming travelers if they had a negative COVID-19 test.  But with the state’s numbers growing, and more of a concern, big spikes on the mainland, the Governor said he is rethinking the timing on reopening.  On Friday, Gov. David Ige’s team sent out a press release saying the Governor has not yet reached a decision on when and how to reopen the economy.

Mayors Harry Kim (Hawaii County) and  Mike Victorino  (Maui County) both said they expected the Governor to push back the date from August 1 to later, while Mayors Kirk Caldwell and Derek Kawakami  did not speculate, but Mayor Caldwell said in a press conference on Thursday that a decision is imperative so hotels and airlines can plan.   Lt. Governor Josh Green has said the decision will come soon.