According to a leading health expert, US COVID-19 cases will begin to rapidly accelerate in a week. America topped 60,000 new cases Tuesday(10/20) which is triple what the daily average was back in June when restrictions had begun to ease.

From a story reported on by CNN and WHDH/News 7 Boston, the prediction comes after several states reimposed certain measures to help curb the spread of the virus.

Factors such as college and school reopenings, and small gatherings moving indoors with the arrival of colder weather have likely fueled the spread.

The national 7-day case average has increased at least 18% since the previous week and is now an incredible 61% higher than what it was five weeks ago.

And, as many experts will tell you, things will likely get worse before they get better.

Also, ahead of bleak outlooks of the coming weeks, hospitalizations in the US have also begun to rise with more than 39,000 COVID-19 patients nationwide.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, at least 26 US states are reporting more new COVID-19 cases than the previous week. The data also shows that no states are trending in the right direction.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said Tuesday that by next week or the week after that, the US could be recording up to 70,000 new cases daily, Dr. Hotez also said that the numbers could keep rising after that.

And as the holidays approach, experts worry gatherings will only help drive an already rampant spread. Americans should take the right precautions if they want to spend time with loved ones and not contribute to the spread of the virus, experts say.

If you'd like to check out more on the story, please visit WHDH/News 7's website here and we appreciate the update.

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