COVID-19 Cases: 21 US States Report Increasing Numbers as Cold Season Looms

COVID-19 cases have been increasing in at least 21 U.S. states, while health experts warn of a potential surge of cases in the fall and winter seasons.

On Sunday, September 27, there has been a 10 percent or more increase in new COVID-19 cases than the week before the 21 states.

According to the data coming from the Johns Hopkins University, most of these states are in the West.

States that have been reporting an increased number of COVID-19 cases are: Alabama, Wyoming, Alaska, Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington State, Idaho, Utah, Maine, Texas, Michigan, South Dakota, Minnesota, South Carolina, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, North Dakota, New Jersey, North Carolina, and New Mexico.

The data also shows that another 18 states are staying consistent in their number of COVID-19 cases, and only 11 states have a more than 10 percent decreasing number of cases compared to the week before.

These states are Arizona, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Vermont, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Georgia, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Virginia.

These numbers are worrying, especially that health experts warned of an explosion of COVID-19 cases in the fall and winter season.

University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) director, Dr. Chris Murray, said that the surge would be attributed to people becoming complacent and exercising less caution. Some states are reporting decreasing numbers.

Another reason for the surge is that because of the cold, people are more likely to spend time indoors where the likelihood of transmissions will be more.

According to Dr. Murray, the IHME model shows that the huge surge will start by October and accelerate by November and December.

The U.S. currently top other countries worldwide as it accounts for 7.1 million of the 33 million COVID-19 cases and 204,000 deaths of the 996,000 deaths worldwide.

New York, the first state to have the highest number of COVID-19 cases at the start of the pandemic, has reported more than 1,000 new cases last Saturday since early June.

Wisconsin also had its highest increase of cases at 2,817 in a single day last Saturday. Wisconsin Gov. Toney Evers had issued an executive order last week, mandating the use of face coverings.

In Florida, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that he is worried about the executive order that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed, allowing bars and restaurants to start operating at full capacity immediately.

He added that suspending fines for those violating COVID-19 restrictions, such as not wearing a public mask, will significantly impact the number of cases.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had already warned before that the fall and winter could be one of the most challenging times that the American public health will experience.

The new increase of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. comes amidst Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies, that it is very likely for COVID-19 deaths to reach two million globally even when there is already an effective vaccine.

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