On Tuesday, a familiar face showed up to the U.S. Capitol.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, ranking member Walden.

Thank you all for the give me the opportunity to discuss with you today the role of the

National Institutes of Health and Research addressing COVID-19.

It was of course America's favorite uncle and the country's top infectious disease expert,

Dr. Anthony Fauci, offering the country a status update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bottom line, Mr. Chairman, it's a mixed bag, some good, and some now we have a problem with.

So yes, in the U.S. there has been some good COVID-19 news.

For example, over the weekend the country finally started testing around 500,000 people a day.

A threshold, some experts said, was the minimum the country needed to hit in order to start reopening.

Former hot spots like New York City have also seen drops in new cases.

However, in other areas of the country we're now seeing a disturbing surge of infections.

Now, states in the south and west, including Texas, California, and Arizona, are seeing a record number of new cases per day.

In fact, more than half the states in the country are seeing a rise in cases.

Early on, some argued that this is because, hey, we're simply testing more people now.

But experts say it's also because people are heading out more.

Businesses, including restaurants and bars, are reopening.

Places of worship are welcoming people back in.

And all the new public health etiquette we've been taught these last few months is less and less in touch with reality.

It's led to a renewed fight over something that experts have pointed to for a while now.

As something that could stop the spread.

Mask or not to mask.

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