Even with the race to vaccinate as many Americans as possible accelerating, some experts are warning that if Americans don't also follow proper safety and mitigation measures the U.S. could see a COVID-19 resurgence.
Although the country's national daily case average continues to fall -- about 32.5% over the last month -- nearly a third of all states have seen their average number of cases rise at least 10%.
Those 15 states are: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia, according to an ABC News analysis of state data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Several states -- Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia -- have seen their case averages increase by at least 25% in the last week.
"Minnesota, I think, is really a harbinger of things to come. We're loosening up all the restrictions we've had, and in some ways creating a perfect storm moment for virus transmission, whether it's a variant or not," Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist and head of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told ABC News' "World News Tonight" on Wednesday. ...
There also are 18 states -- Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming -- that are experiencing a plateau, not a decline, in daily case averages.
Metropolitan areas, in particular, continue to struggle with high case rates. For weeks, New York City has led the nation in cases per 100,000 residents, and last week, New York mayoral adviser Dr. Jay Varma said two newly emerged COVID-19 variants -- the UK and the NY variant -- may now account for a majority of the city's cases. ...
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