CDC director: No really, stop lifting COVID-19 restrictions

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky upped the warnings on Monday amid the potential for a new spike in COVID-19 cases.

“Our recent declines appear to be stalling, stalling at over 70,000 cases a day,” Walensky said at a White House press briefing.

“With these new statistics, I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19,” she added.

New cases had declined for weeks, from as much as 250,000 per day in January to around 70,000 per day currently. But the declines have leveled off and are now even showing signs of ticking back up. Even 70,000 cases per day is an extremely high level, above the peak of last summer.

Plenty of states rolling back anyway: Massachusetts, for example, is lifting all capacity limits on restaurants this week and reopening concert halls at 50 percent capacity. Iowa and Montana also recently lifted statewide mask mandates, and the Texas governor said he is considering such a move.