Health experts urge more precautions as U.S. COVID-19 hot spots increase: NYT

NEW YORK, April 29 (Xinhua) -- As COVID-19 infections are rising again in the United States, health experts and officials urge people to increase their precautions, The New York Times has reported.

The orange spot first appeared on the U.S. national risk map of COVID-19 in early April, marking three counties in central New York State as having "high" community levels of the coronavirus, the only such cluster in the country, the report said on Wednesday.

And now, it's up to two dozen orange counties, stretching across upstate New York and spilling into Pennsylvania and Vermont, while central New York is the biggest blotch on the map.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend people in the hot spot wear masks in public indoor settings due to an increasing level of severe disease.

"What we have done is to distribute tens of thousands of KN95 masks and COVID tests, and mail them to people's homes," he said.

Public health official Mary McFadden warned, "We still need to be diligent and vigilant in how we protect ourselves and those who are more vulnerable."