Some states are reporting record-breaking numbers of new cases. More governors are requiring masks, and dozens of hospitals are out of ICU beds.

At least 27 states have either halted or rolled back their reopenings to try to get a grip on the virus.

He said the pandemic will likely “get worse before it gets better,” echoing earlier predictions made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some good news on the vaccine front

Several vaccine trials are progressing well, and researchers say a vaccine might be publicly available by early 2021.

And any Covid-19 vaccine that’s sponsored by the US government will be free or affordable for the American public, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Wednesday.

“For any vaccine that we have bought — so for instance the Pfizer vaccine — those hundred million doses would actually be acquired by the US government, then given for free to Americans,” Azar said.

He said the same would apply with the AstraZeneca and the Novovax vaccines.

“We will ensure that any vaccine that we’re involved in sponsoring is either free to the American people or is affordable,” Azar said.

More than 100,000 people have volunteered to participate in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“I think we’ll be fine with regards to getting enough people.”

Where cases are surging

Some politicians, including the President, have insisted that much of the soaring case numbers are a reflection of increased testing.

A CNN analysis of testing data from the Covid Tracking Project reveals that the positive test rate — or the the average number of positive test results out of 1,000 tests performed — has increased significantly in many of the current hotspots, including Florida, Arizona, Texas and Georgia.

Florida saw an average rate of 35 positive results per 1,000 tests during the month of May. But in June, that number nearly tripled to 105. So far in July, the average rate of test positivity has been 187 out of 1,000.

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is on the “right course” in the fight against the virus.

“I think we will continue to see improvements,” the governor said Tuesday. “We just have to, particularly Floridians, have to continue doing the basic things.”

Young people drive spread of cases in Los Angeles

California, the first state to shut down months ago, seemed to get Covid-19 under control — only to suffer a massive resurgence, now surpassing New York with the most coronavirus cases in the nation.

This month, the governor shut down bars and indoor restaurant services again due to a massive influx of cases after reopening.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials said young people were driving the spread of the virus, with 57% of new cases reported in people under 41 years old.

“The tragedy of what we are witnessing is that many of our younger residents are interacting with each other and not adhering to the recommended prevention measures,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN earlier this week he was on the “brink” of issuing another stay-at-home order for the city, urging residents to avoid gatherings.

Major testing delays make tracing almost useless

With the high transmission levels of the virus, traditional contact tracing has now become “impractical and difficult to do,” California Health Secretary Mark Ghaly said.

The state is working to refine strategies and continue to work with counties to build up their “tracing army,” but Ghaly warns that “even a very robust contact tracing program will have a hard time reaching out to every single case.”

Contact tracing is now harder all over the nation while testing results take days, Fauci said.

Quest Diagnostics, a leading commercial testing lab, said in a news release Monday that for some patients, testing results can take up to two weeks.

“The time frame from when you get a test to the time you get the results back is sometimes measured in a few days,” Fauci said Tuesday.

“If that’s the case, it kind of negates the purpose of the contract tracing because if you don’t know if that person gets the results back at a period of time that’s reasonable, 24 hours, 48 hours at the most … that kind of really mitigates against getting a good tracing and a good isolation.”

What’s at stake

The previous forecast, published July 9, projected roughly 147,000 Covid-19 deaths by August 1.

While at least 39 states have some time of mask requirement now in place, some officials have not mandated masks.

Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague made masks a requirement in public places and in outdoor places when social distancing isn’t possible — defying the state’s governor who says cities have no authority to put mask mandates in place.

“The scientific data and evidence is clear. Face coverings and masks are a safe, effective way to get case numbers down,” the mayor said.

Ultimately, the course of this pandemic will also help steer the future of education.