The U.S. has seen more than 18,700 deaths from the virus, while the number of recovered patients has surpassed 29,000, according to Johns Hopkins. The number of total cases has swelled to more than half a million less than 12 weeks after the first case was identified in the U.S.
Roughly 45 percent of the reported cases have come from New York and New Jersey alone, though states such as Michigan, California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have also seen their number of confirmed cases stretch into the tens of thousands.
Officials have anticipated the number of cases to grow as more testing becomes available. Public health experts also note that widespread testing will be key to efforts to reopen the economy, though labs have reported backlogs and delays.
“We need an unprecedented mobilization where the government can produce these tests in the millions,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Friday, calling on President Trump to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of testing kits and supplies.
“We have 9 million people we want to get back to work. We need more than several thousand tests per week if this is going to happen anytime soon,” he added.