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Biden administration officials on Friday warned of a “very concerning” uptick in Covid-19 cases this week, urging Americans not to let down their guard despite an ongoing vaccination campaign and case rates that are substantially lower than their peak last month. (Facher, 2/26)

President Biden said Friday that "it's not the time to relax" coronavirus mitigation efforts and warned that the number of cases and hospitalizations could rise again as new variants of the virus emerge. (Knutson, 2/27)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, warned Sunday that Americans shouldn't get complacent about following mitigation measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, as the number of new cases is leveling off despite more Americans receiving vaccines. "We don't want to continue to prevent people from doing what they want to do. But let's get down to a good level," Fauci said in an interview on "Face the Nation." "Let's get many, many more people vaccinated. And then you could pull back on those types of public health measures. But right now, as we're going down and plateauing, is not the time to declare victory because we're not victorious yet." (Quinn, 2/28)

With coronavirus infections on a steady, six weeks long descent in the U.S., it's clear the worst days of the brutal winter surge have waned. Yet researchers are still not sure how sustainable the decline is. And a small but concerning uptick in cases in the last three days has health officials on edge. So what caused the massive decline since January, and what can the U.S. do to ensure that it lasts? New infections have fallen close to 70% nationwide in just over six weeks, bringing the average number of cases to levels last seen in early fall. (Stone, 2/26)

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s criticism of him at the Conservative Political Action Conference was “not really helpful” to the nation’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The remarks from President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser came after Noem, a Republican and an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, received a standing ovation on Saturday at the American Conservative Union’s annual conference for rebuking Fauci’s public health guidance. (Forgey, 2/28)