US COVID-19 cases will begin to rapidly accelerate in about a week, a leading health expert says, as the country's daily averages keep climbing toward the summer's peak and several states are setting hospitalization records.
The US recorded more than 60,300 new cases Tuesday, and the national seven-day case average hit about 59,500 -- an increase of about 73% in five and a half weeks, Johns Hopkins University data show.
That's the highest average since August 3. And things will likely get worse, experts warn.
"It's going to be a difficult fall and winter," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC on Monday evening. "I think we're about two or three weeks behind Europe -- so we're about a week away from starting to enter a period where we're going to see a rapid acceleration in cases."