- The daily number of new coronavirus cases has been hovering in the 40,000 range over the past few days.
- Dr. Fauci has called that figure ‘unacceptable’ and says the tally needs to fall below 10,000/day before fall arrives.
- The good news is that the number of new coronavirus cases in former hotspot states has started to decline.
With the daily number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. now hovering somewhere in the 35,000-45,000 range, we still have a long way to go before we can finally put the coronavirus behind us. Especially with fall coming up around the corner, the impending cooler weather along with the arrival of flu season could usher in a massive spike in new coronavirus infections.
“You look at our numbers now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month, “we’re right in the middle of the first wave here. We’re having a surging of cases. The last ones with 50,000-60,000 per day with 1,000 deaths per day. We’ve got to get those numbers down. And if we don’t get them down, then we’re going to have a really bad situation in the fall. Because as you get indoors and you get the complication of influenza, that’s something we’re going to have to deal with.”
Fauci has since articulated on a number of occasions that we need to get the daily number of new coronavirus infections down below the 10,000-case threshold sooner rather than later. Now whether that goal is achievable remains to be seen, but the good news is that many areas across the country have started to see a significant decrease in new coronavirus cases over the past few days. What’s more, a few states where the coronavirus is subsiding rapidly are former hotspot areas.
To this point, Newsweek recently took a look at updated coronavirus data compiled by the New York Times and highlighted five states where the number of coronavirus cases is falling the fastest. That list includes California, Georgia, Mississippi, Arizona, and Nevada.
And though Florida didn’t make the cut, we highlighted recently how the state over the weekend saw its lowest level of new coronavirus infections in nearly three months.
As to the aforementioned five states, most of the coronavirus cases there have followed a similar trajectory, which is to say that all states saw a huge spike in new cases from early June through the end of July and early August before things started to decline in recent weeks.
While it would certainly be nice to see that trend continue, it’s not a guarantee given all of the coronavirus infections that have already resulted from schools opening back up. As we noted earlier in the week, some college campuses have seen significant coronavirus outbreaks recently.
