NEW ORLEANS — Some states across the country recently began seeing surges in COVID-19 cases including Florida and Texas. In Houston, ICUs have been approaching capacity. Florida reported more than 85,000 new cases in a single day.
"Florida, Texas, Arizona all appear they may be the new epicenter of this pandemic," said Dr. Fred Lopez, LSU Health Infectious Disease.
Case numbers have risen in Louisiana too but not at the same rate as other states.
"We're not beyond the first wave of this pandemic. What we're seeing are spikes and we're seeing them in areas that look a lot like New York and New Jersey a couple of months ago," Lopez said.
At least a dozen states said they will not move to the next phase of reopening because of the surges.
"I think you need to be very careful about where you visit because the number of cases can put you at risk," Lopez said.
Those states began taking more steps to try and keep case numbers down.
"It looks like there's going to be more of an emphasis on masking, more of an emphasis on social distancing, and it looks like they may close down or at least restrict some of their businesses," Lopez said.
"Certainly concerned that we're seeing a true rise in cases not just driven by increase testing but frankly there are more people now getting COVID," said Dr. Alex Billioux, Asst. Secretary of The Office of Public Health.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
