Parts of the United States facing a surge in COVID-19 cases such as the states of Texas, Florida, Arizona, as well as North and South Carolina face the prospect of renewed shutdowns to slow the contagion, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview on Thursday.
"There are spikes in hot spots. There's no doubt about that," Kudlow told FOX Business News. "And there will be shutdowns in individual places or certain stores. We are keeping a very close eye on this."
However, Kudlow said the spike in new cases in so-called sun-belt states he mentioned needs to be balanced against other parts of the country where infections continue to decline.
He cited a 30 percent drop in new cases in Colorado, a 31 percent decline in Washington, DC, a 36 percent drop in Illinois, an 80 percent decline in Michigan.
Kudlow’s remarks followed the latest Labor Department report showing 1.48 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the previous week, bring the total the 47.3 jobs lost since the nationwide coronavirus lockdown began.
New cases on Wednesday in the entire US totalled 34,300, the fourth-highest daily infection count since the start of the pandemic, data published by the Johns Hopkins University showed.
Many of the affected states had been widely criticized for easing their respected lockdown rules too quickly, threatening a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.