Fauci says parts of U.S. are seeing a ‘distrubing surge’ of coronavirus

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that parts of the U.S. are beginning to see a “disturbing surge” in coronavirus infections.

While New York state is seeing a decline in Covid-19 cases, other states are seeing a rise in cases that “reflect an increase in community spread,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “That’s something I’m really quite concerned about.” 

The coronavirus, which has sickened more than 2.4 million Americans, continues to rapidly spread throughout the United States. As of Monday, the U.S. seven-day average of new infections increased more than 30{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} compared with a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. Cases are growing by 5{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} or more in 26 states, including Arizona, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. Coronavirus hospitalizations are on the rise as well.

U.S. cases had risen to about an average of 30,000 infections per day at the peak of the outbreak before plateauing to around 20,000 infectious per day, Fauci said. “Now we’re going up [again]. A couple of days ago, there were 30,000 new infections.”

“That’s very troublesome to me,” he said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.