Currently, hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus are also still following the lead of decreasing case counts in the U.S., dropping 23 percent and 17 percent over the past week, respectively, according to The Post. But during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on March 14, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, warned that the national downward trend in cases may not carry on forever. “You’re seeing an uptick across Europe, and that’s causing a lot of anxiety here in the United States that we’re going to see a surge of infection. I do believe we’ll probably see a bump up of infections as we lift the mitigation, [and] as [the Omicron subvariant] BA.2 starts to spread and become more prevalent—although it’s pretty prevalent right now, it’s probably 50 percent of all cases in Connecticut—and as you get some waning immunity from the boosters that people got over the winter,” he predicted. “But I don’t think it’s going to be another major surge of infection. I think you’ll see an uptick before you start to see continued declines heading into the spring and summer.” Gottlieb said a familiar timeline from abroad might even provide clues as to when the next national COVID spike could begin. “We’re probably about three or four weeks behind the U.K., so while the U.K. is seeing a bump up in infections right now, we’ll get further into our spring before we start to see that happen here. So hopefully, we buy ourselves a little bit of a backstop from the warming weather as well,” he said. Still, other top officials warned that it was still too early to consider the pandemic entirely finished. “The problem here and throughout the world is that the memory of what happened fades very quickly,” Anthony Fauci, MD, chief COVID adviser to the White House, told CNBC during an interview last week. “I would hope that this completely catastrophic experience that we’ve had over the last two-plus years will make it so that we don’t forget, and we do the kind of pandemic preparedness that is absolutely essential.” Read on to see the only states to have experienced COVID spikes over the past week as of March 15, according to data from The Washington Post. RELATED: Dr. Fauci Says This Is Now the “Best Case Scenario” for Ending COVID.
New cases in the last seven days: 19 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 19 percent
Colorado’s uptick in cases comes one week after the state reported its lowest weekly totals since the beginning of the pandemic, The Denver Post reports. Local health experts were cautiously optimistic overall about the trajectory of the virus but warned the current dip should be used to make preparations for any future spikes. “It’s encouraging to see the rates are low, but it remains to be seen how long they’ll stay low,” Talia Quandelacy, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, told The Denver Post.
New cases in the last seven days: 14 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 20 percent
Cases are on the rise in Texas, where there have been an average of 4,531 confirmed new infections daily over the past week as of March 13, according to data from COVID Act Now. The state’s positive test rate was also at 3.1 percent, according to the most recent data from March 10.
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New cases in the last seven days: 13 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 28 percent
Data shows that Delaware has averaged 84 new confirmed cases per day, according to COVID Act Now. The state’s positive test rate also dropped to three percent on March 10.
New cases in the last seven days: 13 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 29 percent
Nevada saw a spike in cases alongside a slight rise in hospitalizations, with 77 percent of the state’s ICU capacity filled on March 14 compared to 75 percent on March 7, according to COVID Act Now. The state has also averaged 17.6 daily deaths over the past week.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb RELATED: Dr. Fauci Just Said This Is the Tell-Tale Sign You Have Long COVID.
New cases in the last seven days: 20 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 43 percent
Arizona reported a positive test rate of 4.4 percent as of March 10, according to COVID Act Now. However, the state also saw hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 decrease by 25 percent and 75 percent over the past week, respectively, according to data from The Post.
New cases in the last seven days: 51 cases per 100,000 people Percent increase in the last seven days: 49 percent
Despite reporting more than 500 new cases over the weekend, hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Alaska were still falling as of March 14. “In terms of hospitalizations, we’re at a low point. We’re in recover mode,” Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, said during a press conference on March 14. “We’re focusing on workforce and how to recover from the pandemic.” RELATED: If You Notice This on Your Face, It Could Be an Omicron Symptom.