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After a muted holiday weekend -- which saw both measured celebrations and packed crowds -- the country faces a deep coronavirus crisis as cases continue to climb and more hospitals report they're nearing capacity. This week marks about two months since many states kicked off their reopening plans -- which now officials across the country say came too quickly. (Maxouris, 7/6)

Officials in states with surging coronavirus cases issued dire warnings and blamed outbreaks on early reopenings Sunday as the seven-day average for daily new cases in the United States reached a record high for the 27th straight day. “We don’t have room to experiment, we don’t have room for incrementalism when we’re seeing these kinds of numbers,” said Judge Lina Hidalgo (D), the top elected official in Harris County, Tex., which encompasses the sprawling Houston metro area. “Nor should we wait for all the hospital beds to fill and all these people to die before we take drastic action.” (Hawkins, Iati and Dupree, 7/5)

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic neared 130,000, as surging infection rates in many parts of the country heaped more pressure on overstretched hospitals. The U.S. added more than 49,000 new cases on Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Cases in the U.S. account for about a quarter of the global total of more than 11.4 million infections. (Hall, 7/6)