There was a spike in new U.S. COVID-19 cases on Oct. 3, setting new one-day records in Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, and Wisconsin; and these states, along with Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Wyoming, all had record increases for the week. Colder weather, driving many activities indoors, is thought to be a major contributing factor.
Nationwide, new cases remain about 15% above mid-September. The 7-day running average is now above 42,000/day. In a sense, this is largely accounted for by the rise in testing, which averaged almost a million/day from Sept. 30-Oct. 2. The positivity rate backs this up, remaining right around 4.6-4.7%. So, this suggests that a similar amount of infection activity was out there in mid-September, but now we’re having more success in locating it. Still, since the universities reopened, the declines in cases and positivity, from late July to early September, have halted.
