The seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 cases continues to rise across the United States, with Oct. 27’s number nearing 72,000 – a new record, and 20% higher than a week ago, according to Johns Hopkins University data. This is accompanied by a rise in the positivity rate of all of those tested, which now stands at 6.2%, up significantly from a level of less than 4% just a few weeks ago. Experts consider anything over 5% as unacceptably high. At this point, 13 states have positivity rates greater than 10%, with South Dakota leading the way with 43%, followed by Idaho and Wyoming, with 35% and 32% respectively.
Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health who leads the government’s testing effort, spoke on NBC’s “Today” show on Oct. 28, with a very sober assessment: “As the nation did after Memorial Day, we are at another critical point in the pandemic response…. Cases are going up in most states across the country. Hospitalizations are up, although we’re still tens of thousands of hospitalizations below where we were in July, but that is rising. And we are starting to see the increase in deaths.” There are currently 44,000 people hospitalized across the country with COVID.
