Infection rates rise, but experts disagree on what to call surge Reis Thebault, The Washington Post April 4, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail The debate played out on the Sunday morning news shows.Kena Betancurk/AFP via Getty Images After weeks of decline, the average number of new coronavirus infections reported each day is higher than it's been in a month. The number of people in hospitals with covid-19 has been stagnant since mid-March. And even as highly contagious virus variants spread, state leaders are relaxing safety precautions. This is a familiar trend. The country's leading epidemiologists disagree about what to call this latest phase of the pandemic. Is the United States on the cusp of a "fourth wave"? Or is it instead seeing the last gasps of a crisis in its 14th month?