The United States is seeing a “distressing trend” in COVID-19 cases right now as the fall season arrives.
What’s going on?
Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious diseases, said Thursday that COVID-19 hot spots are growing “really in all parts of the country” right now, according to CNBC.
- The Midwest is seeing a significantly high transmission rate, too.
- “Unfortunately, we are seeing a distressing trend here in the United States,” he said.
Why?: “Smaller, more intimate gatherings of family, friends and neighbors may be driving transmission as well, especially as they move indoors,” Butler said.
The takeaway:
Butler said it’s important not to get tired of the coronavirus safety measures, CNBC reports.
- “I recognize that we are all getting tired of the impact COVID-19 has had on our lives,” he said. “We’re tired of wearing masks, but it continues to be as important as it has ever been and I would say even more important than ever as we move into the fall season.”
Difficult times ahead
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Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC that the United States may see a “rapid acceleration” of COVID-19 cases within the next week or so.
- “It’s going to be a difficult fall and winter,” he said. “I think we’re about two or three weeks behind Europe — so we’re about a week away from starting to enter a period where we’re going to see a rapid acceleration in cases.”
- “The summer was a backstop, of sorts, to the spring surge, and we have no therapeutic backstop,” Gottlieb said. “The fall and winter season is when this coronavirus is going to want to spread.”