Coronavirus cases are growing in 11 U.S. states as Fauci warns of ‘disturbing’ data

Coronavirus cases are growing in 11 U.S. states as Fauci warns of 'disturbing' data Covid-19 cases continued to grow over the weekend in nearly a dozen states as the nation's leading infectious disease expert warns about the nation's worrying level of new infections. Berkeley Lovelace Jr. CNBC

Coronavirus cases continued to grow over the weekend in nearly a dozen U.S. states as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, warns about the nation’s worrying level of new infections.

Covid-19 cases were growing by 5% or more, based on a weekly average to smooth out daily reporting, in 11 states as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University, an increase from eight states on Friday.

The states were Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Wisconsin hit a record high in its average of daily new cases, reporting 1,353 new infections, a roughly 32% increase from a week ago, the Hopkins data shows. Kansas and Montana both hit record highs for new deaths.

The new data comes two days after Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said current data on the U.S. Covid-19 outbreak is “disturbing,” disagreeing with President Donald Trump, who said the U.S. outbreak was “rounding the corner.”

While cases are growing in 11 states, the overall daily average of new cases in the U.S. is declining. Over the past seven days, the country has reported an average of about 34,300 new cases per day, down more than 15% compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data. That’s far lower than the roughly 70,000 new cases a day the U.S. was reporting weeks ago. 

Still, the 34,300 new cases a day is alarmingly high, infectious disease experts say, and U.S. health officials fear the outbreak could get worse as the nation enters the fall and winter seasons. ...