Uptick Of COVID Cases Seen In States With Colder Weather

Young girl wearing a protective face mask and checking air pollution with smartphone

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As Southern states have started to see a drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Northern states are seeing those numbers increase as the weather gets colder.

"Coronaviruses tend to thrive in winter months, and colder weather," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said. "Right now is not the time, as cases are coming down to become complacent because we do know colder weather is ahead of us."

Georiga and Florida saw the number of new cases decline by 37% and 25%, respectively, compared to last week. Meanwhile, several states, including Alaska, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Vermont, all saw an increase in new cases of at least 10%. Vermont used to have one the lowest case rates in the country, but in recent weeks, the state now has one of the 15 highest case rates in the country.

Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wyoming, have all reported an increase in the number of hospitalizations.

Health experts with PolicyLab explained that as the weather gets colder, more people gather indoors, where the virus is more likely to spread.

"We need to expect that, as we enter a season of shorter, colder days that will push more people to gather indoors, we will soon see a widening geographic distribution of resurgent transmission in many locations," forecasters wrote, according to ABC News.

Overall, cases in the U.S. fell by 6% week-over-week, while hospitalizations were down by 9%.


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