White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the US is reporting an “extremely high” number of daily Covid-19 cases.
He said that the winter season could spread the virus even more because people will be spending more time indoors.
The U.S. has reported 99,321 new coronavirus cases on Friday, defeating its previous record set only a day prior as the outbreaks swell.
The U.S. continues to witness an upward climb on what is considered the pandemic’s third peak, with cases increasing by 5% or more in 43 states as of Friday, based on a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The Hopkins data showed there are now more than 9 million reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S., which added an additional 1 million infections in only two weeks.
Over the last week, the U.S. posted an average of roughly 78,738 new infections every day, the highest seven-day average recorded yet, and an increase of nearly 25% compared with a week ago. The top five highs in daily confirmed cases have all been hit within the last eight days.
New coronavirus cases are emerging in key battleground states that could shape the outcome of Tuesday’s election as President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden enter the final stretch.
While others referred to the recent surge in daily Covid-19 cases as a “third wave,” Dr. Fauci stressed that the country is still suffering from its original wave of coronavirus infections.
He told SiriusXM’s “Doctor Radio Reports” in an interview on Friday that America’s Sun Belt states started reporting an increase in outbreaks and infections over the summer. He noted that the country was never able to post below 20,000 daily Covid-19 cases on average like other countries.
“We never got out of the real wave. We kind of went up and down within a wave,” Dr. Fauci said. “When I hear people talk about second and third waves, it really is the original wave that just resurges up, comes down a little, and resurges up again.”
Dr. Fauci explained that the positivity rate, or the percentage of tests that are positive, is rising in over 30 states, and about 13 states are in the “red zone,” which means they post a positivity rate above 10%.
According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, "a high positivity rate is a sign that “there’s more infection out there that we’re not turning over."
“We’re at a point where the epidemic is accelerating across the country. We’re right at the beginning of the steep part of the epidemic curve,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said during an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith."
“That’s something that you wish you did not have as you enter into the colder months because out of necessity, a lot more things are going to have to be done indoors because of the weather,” Dr. Fauci said.
“We’re in a precarious position over the next several weeks to months,” Dr. Fauci stressed, asking people to continue wearing face masks, social distance, and spend time outdoors over indoors as much as possible.
