Ex-CDC director warns of virus outbreaks in 5 US states

Tom Frieden, the former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says at least five states are seeing sharp increases in COVID-19 infections and are on track for "big outbreaks" in the next two weeks.

Frieden, who ran the CDC from 2009 to 2017 and now heads the nonprofit initiative "Resolve to Save Lives," told the Associated Press that he's particularly worried about Arizona, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Texas.

"In those five we see three really bad trends: big increases in case numbers, big increases in the positivity rate of tests and large numbers to begin with. So they're heading into big outbreaks that are going to continue for at least another couple of weeks until they do something differently," said Frieden, speaking from his home in Brooklyn.

Frieden said there are another 10 states where he's worried about increasing coronavirus infections while there are about a dozen states that are keeping their infections at low numbers.

He urged the public to follow the "3 W's" - wear masks, wash hands and watch your distance.  Public health officials must do a better job of testing, contact tracing and isolating infected people.

"We can keep this from exploding again. But if we're not careful, it will be back. We're sick and tired of staying home, but the virus is not tired of making us sick," Frieden said.

Asked about President Trump's political rally on Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Frieden said he's very concerned about crowded indoor events events where people come from many different places and don't wear masks. He said transmission is much less likely if events are outdoors and people wear masks.

Frieden said so far there hasn't been a large increase in cases linked to demonstrations against the police killing of George Floyd.

"Some of them were very crowded. So it's certainly possible that there could be some spread there. And we may find that in the coming days to weeks," Frieden.

The former CDC director said there are encouraging signs that a coronavirus vaccine could be available next year, but he said it's important not to cut corners in development or testing, which could undermine public confidence in the vaccine.

"If you talk to the optimistic people about vaccine, they're hoping that at some point next year, at some point in 2021, there'll be a vaccine. How effective it is, how widely available it is, how safe it is? All bets are off."