‘We’re playing with fire’: US Covid cases may be 30 times higher than reported

Severe undercounting undermines our efforts to understand and get ahead of the virus', researcher says after New York survey

The United States is now in its fourth-biggest Covid surge, according to official case counts - but experts believe the actual current rate is much higher.

America is averaging about 94,000 new cases every day, and hospitalizations have been ticking upward since April, though they remain much lower than previous peaks.