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CDC Director tests positive for COVID-19

Rochelle Walensky, MD, Director, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Rochelle Walensky, MD, Director, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the agency said.

The agency added that she is isolating at home and will participate in planned meetings virtually.

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Walensky's case comes as coronavirus cases dropped 15% last week cases decreasing 7%, including in Europe with infections dropping 4% after weeks of surging.Last week Europe was the only continent to post a rise in COVID-19 cases over seven days, 2%, as deaths increased 4%. This week Africa is the only one with infections rising, 2%.

The seven-day moving average for deaths was down to 1,196, the fewest since 1,075 March 21, 2020, 10 days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, according to Worldometers.info.

Some nations do not report data on weekends. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't report data on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays with plans to go to weekly updates on Thursdays.

France had the second-most cases, 393,007, which rose 2% one week after 24%. In deaths, the United States was No. 1 at 1,582, which decreased 40%.

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In the past week, Asia reported 29% of the world's cases and it dropped 1% for a cumulative 191,814,822, according to Worldometers.info. The continent has 59% percent of the world's population.

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