Just three weeks out from Election Day, the Covid-19 pandemic is making its feared fall comeback across the US -- and influenza season has not even kicked in yet.
Health officials have worried the virus would take hold again as Americans returned to school and as pandemic fatigue encouraged cities, counties and states to loosen restrictions.
Now it’s happening -- and the West, Midwest, and South in particular have seen numbers going in the wrong direction.
Denver is reporting an “alarming” increase in coronavirus cases; Montana has counted as many cases in 11 days as it reported in the first five months of the pandemic; North Dakota has broken hospitalization records for three days in a row and Arkansas has broken them for five days straight; Wisconsin consistently reports one of the country’s highest weekly average positivity rates; and Georgia has averaged more than 1,000 new cases per day -- every single day -- for 114 days.
"This is a big deal," said Denver Mayor Michael Hancock on Monday. "I get we're all tired of not being able to go out and do the things we want to do. We all want to go out to restaurants and spend time with our friends and families."
But the city is paying for it, he said. "During the week of October 3, our seven-day average of hospitalizations was at 126. Today, just a week later, the average is 174 -- a 37% increase. We are at a fork in the road."