Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts announced changes to the state’s health measures, including requiring hospitals to reserve at least 10% of staffed general and ICU beds for Covid-19 patients. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this week ordered new mass gathering limitations and a 10 p.m. closing time for establishments serving alcohol. And in Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said earlier this month he instructed authorities to step up mask enforcement.
“This is a good moment for people to stop and ask themselves, what can I do to try to be sure that we limit the further infections that otherwise seem to be looming in front of us as cold weather is kicking in and people are indoors, and those curves are going upward, in the wrong direction,” Collins said Friday.
But it’s not too late to turn things around. Experts say Americans can help get the virus under control by heeding basic public health guidelines touted by officials for months: avoiding crowded settings, keeping a distance, keeping small gatherings outdoors and wearing a mask.
‘We are in a new wave of rising positivity in Covid-19 cases’
On Thursday, at least 26 US states reported more than 1,000 new cases in a day, data from Johns Hopkins shows. And 14 states saw their highest 7-day averages for new daily cases: Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams addressed a surge of new cases and hospitalizations in Wisconsin and said the state’s positivity rates are “going in the wrong direction.”
“It is critical that we actually understand where this virus is circulating so that we could get cases under control and reverse positivity,” he said Friday.
In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he was concerned about a rise of infections.
“We’re in a new wave of rising positivity in Covid-19 cases all across the nation, not only in Illinois,” he said. “One of the challenges now is that three of the worst five states in the country are bordering Illinois: Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, bordering…
Read More: The US reported the most Covid-19 cases in a day since July. Deaths may begin