A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the media on Thursday that the drastic situation in New York regarding the coronavirus pandemic may be a preview of what is to come.

New York has reported 37,258 positive COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, accounting for nearly half of the country’s total. More than two-thirds of the diagnoses in the state were in New York City. Currently, 385 New Yorkers have died from the viral respiratory infection, and 1,301 patients have died nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In an interview with the digital news outlet The Hill, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said the public health agency is noticing a spike in the number of cases of the disease in New York City and in several other densely packed communities.

“We’re looking at our flu syndromic data, our respiratory illness that presents at emergency departments. Across the country there’s a number of areas that are escalating. The numbers in New York are so large that they show up, but we’re looking at increases over time and we’re really seeing some in a number of places. It would be surprising to me based on what I’ve seen about how this virus spreads if it were not going to increase in many other parts of the country,” Schuchat said in her interview with The Hill.

To date, there are more than 86,000 cases of the coronavirus across all 50 states, according to Johns Hopkins University. Twenty-five deaths due to the illness and 2,417 positive diagnoses have been identified in Massachusetts as of Thursday. The number of COVID-19 patients in the commonwealth jumped by 579 from Wednesday.

“I think what we’re seeing in New York City and New York state right now is a real warning to other areas about what may happen or what may already be starting to happen," Schuchat told The Hill.

Other states and cities in particular are seeing a rapid rise in their numbers of cases as well.

New Orleans may be the next epicenter for the disease. Louisiana identified its first positive diagnoses of the infection on March 9. The number of cases surpassed 100 a week later, and the caseload stood at 2,305 on Friday, with 83 reported deaths in the state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.

There have been 997 cases of COVID‑19 in New Orleans, 46 of which have resulted in death, according to the city.

The CDC has dispatched teams to multiple coronavirus hotspots, including New York City and Seattle. Personnel from the agency have also more recently been sent to Colorado, Louisiana and Wisconsin, The Hill reported.

“There’s just dozens of places we’re watching,” Schuchat told the news outlet. “We really need to expect that the whole country’s at risk here, and we have to look across our health care system within each jurisdiction to have them be as strong as possible.”

The pandemic has led governors in Massachusetts, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio and others to issue stay-at-home guidance or orders, as many public officials ask individuals to practice social distancing.

Schuchat told The Hill that ending these measures prematurely may have devastating consequences.

“Everything that I’m seeing today suggests to me that we need to take this virus very seriously, and that we have to be absolutely sure that our health care system in diverse geographies is ready for increased burden," she said in her interview with the news outlet.

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