“We’re seeing more cases build in the Midwest and the West,” Scott Gottlieb, MD, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said during a CBS News interview on Aug. 23. “And the concern is that if there is sort of a third wave—a third iteration of the national epidemic—it could be more diffuse spread across a broader section of the Midwest and the West, because cases are building in those parts of the country. And that’s what’s concerning people right now.“ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb According to The New York Times, Midwestern states that are seeing a rise of new cases are North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, and Kansas. And in the West, Hawaii and Wyoming both are seeing numbers rise. Only two states—Maine and Vermont—outside of these regions are also seeing new cases rise, the Times reports. Despite the concerns about a third wave hitting these areas, Gottlieb did admit that the country is seeing “some signs of good news,” as new daily cases overall have been below 50,000 for the past seven days. According to The New York Times, the most recent week’s average number of daily new cases is 42,310, which is a decrease of 22 percent from the average just two weeks ago. “We’re seeing cases fall across the country, across the Sun Belt, where the epidemic was,” Gottlieb said, noting that this has driven a decrease in the number of hospitalizations. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. “[Hospitalizations] fell below forty thousand for the first time in a very long time,” Gottlieb said. “And I think we’re going to see deaths fall below a thousand a day. They’ve been persistently at above a thousand a day now for almost four weeks.” And for more signs of good news, check out These States Have Started to “Turn the Tide” on COVID, CDC Director Says.
