San Bernardino County may close bars Friday if COVID numbers don't improve

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has approved closing bars again on Friday if coronavirus numbers there don't improve.

In Riverside County on Tuesday, officials ordered the temporary closure of bars.

Bars and breweries had been allowed to reopen last month as part of the state's third stage of its four-phase plan.

But the state has recommended they close again because of a surge in cases.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. per day has roughly doubled over the past month, hitting 44,800 on Tuesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. That is higher even than what the nation witnessed during the deadliest stretch of the crisis in mid-April through early May.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, warned on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the rise across the South and West "puts the entire country at risk" and that new infections could reach 100,000 a day if people don't start listening to public health authorities.

"When you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they're doing well, they are vulnerable," Fauci said.

Outbreaks in Florida, Arizona and Texas have also forced those states to reverse course and take such measures as shutting down bars and beaches and curbing restaurant capacity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.