Nearly a half-million Americans tested positive for the novel coronavirus within the past week as a fall resurgence of the pandemic ramps up in the United States.
Since Oct. 20, 489,769 new cases have been documented in the U.S., CNN reported Tuesday, citing a Johns Hopkins University tracker
The fall uptick has forced some local and state officials to delay reopening plans as hospitalizations increase and many states report a record number of cases.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the U.S. could mitigate the worst of the resurgence with more aggressive lockdown measures and restrictions.
“But we’re not going to do that and I understand why,” he said, CNN reported. “There’s a lot of fatigue set in and a lot of policy resistance to taking strong action ahead of, you know, the spread.”
As of Tuesday, the U.S. has roughly 8.7 million coronavirus cases and 226,000 related deaths, both tops globally, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.