(CNN) — Covid-19 numbers are once again climbing back up across the country, with more than half of US states reporting a rise in new infections in what experts say is the dreaded fall surge.
And there’s several factors that got the country here, one expert told CNN.
Among them are college and school reopenings, Dr. Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told CNN Monday night. But that’s not all.
“I think there’s some, what people might say, pandemic fatigue, in some places people not really following the advice, the public health guidance that’s out there — masking, or distancing, or telecommuting. There’s more people going back to large gatherings, family gatherings.”
And those gatherings will likely multiply as the holidays approach and more people transition indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.
Across the country, more than 8.2 million people have been infected with the virus since the start of the pandemic.
At least 12 states reported their highest seven-day average of daily cases Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, the nation’s seven-day average climbed to more than 56,000 cases — a level not seen in the past 12 weeks. And on Friday, the US reported the most new infections in a day since late July.
Hospitalizations are also on the rise, with at least 14 states reporting peak hospitalization numbers in the last week. And the country has now topped 220,000 Covid-19 deaths, a number some experts worry may also begin to climb faster.
“The numbers are moving in the wrong direction,” Inglesby said. “We see that happening as the weather gets colder, and it’s likely … to get worse.”
Only Hawaii is trending in the right direction
Across the US, at least 31 states are reporting more new cases than the previous week, according to Johns Hopkins data. Only one state — Hawaii — is trending in the right direction.
In a grim prediction for the country, Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told NBC on Sunday that the “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.”
In Illinois, the governor said that while the state remains better off than others across the Midwest, every region of the state “has started to move in the wrong direction.”
“We can’t wall off Illinois from the surge, but we can take extra precautions and do better than others at following the mitigations that slow the spread,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday. “Let me reiterate what I have been saying for months, ours will not be one of the states that takes no action in response to rising cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”
In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Saturday the state was experiencing a 101% increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations this month so far.
On Monday, she tweeted if the virus “continues to exponentially spread like last week, New Mexico will not have health care and hospital capacity for every New Mexican who needs care.”
And Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday announced additional measures, including requiring hospitals to reserve capacity for Covid-19 patients as well as more targeted measures for several counties with a higher number of cases.
“I don’t expect that any of these measures will eliminate the virus, and we have to allow for life to go on,” the governor said. “In the meantime, as we wait for a vaccine, our mission is the same as it ever was — it is to prevent our healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.”
States don’t have money to pay for vaccine plans
Meanwhile, states still don’t have the needed federal money to help them distribute the Covid-19 vaccine, state health officials said Monday.
“As it stands now, we do not have any capability to fund the imminent implementation of the plan,” James Blumenstock, senior vice president for pandemic response and recovery at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), told reporters on Monday.
Friday was the deadline for states to file their plans for vaccine distribution. Blumenstock said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributed $200 million to states for preparedness and planning but that “certainly would not be sufficient at all for a campaign of this magnitude and duration that we are thinking of.”
ASTHO has asked Congress for $8.4 billion to help states distribute and administer vaccines to people once they became available.
Vaccines will likely not be available “in any meaningful way” until the third quarter of next year, Osterholm told NBC Sunday.
But Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday that by “the end of March, early April,” he believes anyone in the US who wants to get vaccinated will be able to do so.
The most vulnerable populations in the US will be able to get vaccinated before that — likely by the end of December, he said. And by the end of January, he said he believes there will be enough to vaccinate all seniors and health care workers and first responders.
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