U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic will likely get worse before it gets better.

"Some areas of our country are doing very well, others are doing less well. It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. Something I don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is," Trump said in his first press briefing at the White House on the pandemic in nearly three months.

In a break from previous comments downplaying the importance of wearing a mask, Trump encouraged people to wear them. "We are asking everybody when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask," he said. "Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact."

Johns Hopkins University has reported more than 14.7 million COVID-19 cases worldwide with nearly 3.9 million confirmed cases in the United States. More than 141,000 people have died from the virus in the U.S., a toll that experts warn will likely surge following recent record spikes in case numbers and an alarming rise in hospitalizations in many states.

The state of Mississippi reported more than 1,600 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, a record for the second straight day.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, more than 500 female prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.

As COVID-19 spreads across the U.S, schools in many states are still preparing to reopen. Florida's teachers are suing the governor of the state to block an emergency order mandating schools reopen in August with in-person lessons. The teachers argue the state's constitution requires that schools must be operated safely.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott said Hidalgo County could not order residents to stay home and said mask and social distancing rules were sufficient to keep businesses open in the Rio Grande Valley, on the U.S. border with Mexico.

In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp has sought to prevent Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from enforcing an order that residents wear masks in public.

U.S. lawmakers are considering another stimulus package to help struggling businesses and those who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

The lawmakers and White House officials on Tuesday held negotiations aimed at crafting an agreement on new COVID-19 aid legislation as the country continues to see an upsurge in infections and deaths.

Health officials in Canada said Tuesday that more young people are getting COVID-19. More than 55 percent of new infections are people under the age of 39.