Fauci Fears Illinois Will See Labor Day Coronavirus Case Surge

ILLINOIS — Holiday weekends in recent months have proven to be especially detrimental to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to experts. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.'s top infectious disease expert, is warning Illinois and six other states of a potential uptick in cases over the Labor Day holiday weekend. He told Bloomberg that if Americans are "careless," there could be another jump in cases this fall, similar to spikes following Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

In addition to Illinois, Fauci expressed coronavirus concerns in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana.

"Those states are starting to see an increase in the percent positive of their testing; that is generally predictive that there’s going to be a problem," Fauci said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Earlier this week, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced a slowdown in data processing within IDPH systems affected the reporting of COVID-19 tests due to the large volume of testing occurring in Illinois. As a result, 5,368 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Illinois Friday, including 29 additional confirmed deaths.

The latest deaths include:

• Bond County: 1 male 70s
• Cook County: 1 male 40s, 2 males 50s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 80s
• Cumberland County: 1 female 90s
• Edgar County: 1 female 90s
• Henry County: 1 male 90s
• Kankakee County: 1 male 90s
• Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
• LaSalle County: 1 female 80s
• Macoupin County: 1 male 70s
• Madison County: 2 male 70s
• McHenry County: 1 male 80s
• McLean County: 1 male 90s
• Moultrie County: 1 female 90s
• Perry County: 1 male 60s
• Richland County: 1 female 90s
• Rock Island County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 90s
• Stark County: 1 male 80s
• Tazewell County: 1 female 80s
• Will County: 1 female 70s
• Williamson County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s

As reported by Bloomberg, Memorial Day was a turning point for many newly reopened states, which saw previously moderate COVID-19 outbreaks start to spread. That was followed by July 4, which came just a few weeks before the worst spike the U.S. has seen since the start of the pandemic. New cases started frequently topping 60,000 later that month. Though new infections are down overall, the daily death toll is still around 1,000.

With the U.S. outbreak topping 6 million confirmed cases and 185,000 deaths, many are fearful of what the long Labor Day weekend has in store.

"If we're careless about it, then we could wind up with a surge following Labor Day," said Fauci, who was joined by Vice President Mike Pence during a call with governors this week. "It really depends on how we behave as a country."