The number of reported COVID-19 cases shot up by at least 10 percent in 21 U.S. states over the past week—and experts are now forecasting that a “huge surge” is expected to take off in the next month. The worrying figures, from Johns Hopkins University and reported by CNN, show that the virus is spreading mainly in the Western states. Cases are ticking upward in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington state, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Only 11 states are reporting decreases in case numbers. Chris Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, warned that a “huge surge” is now expected to take off in October “and accelerate in November and December,” which, he said, could result in 3,000 daily deaths by late December. Reuters reports test positivity rates in South Dakota hit 26 percent over the weekend, with North Dakota averaging 30 percent for the week.