The number of daily coronavirus infections in the United States reached the highest level in 75 days Thursday, crossing the alarming 60000 mark.
With 63,927 new cases reporting in the last 24 hours, the national total increased to 7980461, as per Johns Hopkins University's latest data. This marks more than 50 percent increase from the figures recorded in the country earlier this week.
The last time daily COVID cases shot up to such a high level was on July 31.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest update, the 7-day moving average of COVID19 cases nationwide was 52,345, compared to 43,852 in the previous 7-day period. That's a 16 percent increase in new cases.
Medical experts said the alarmingly high daily average is a sign that the country is in for a tough winter.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said, "The issue is that as we are now in the cooler season of the fall, and ultimately the colder season of the winter, you don't want to be in that compromised position where your baseline daily infection is high and you are increasing, as opposed to going in the other direction."
"We really got to double down on the fundamental public health measures that we talk about every single day, because they can make a difference," he said on "Good Morning America" Thursday.
Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said the United States is going to go through a very troubled time.
"We're going to have a huge increase as we head into the colder months, and this could be potentially the worst part of the epidemic in the U.S., both in terms of new cases and even deaths," he said in an interview to USA Today.
With 797 deaths reported nationally in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID casualties in the U.S. increased to 217700 Friday.
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