WASHINGTON — As new cases of coronavirus surge, the White House coronavirus task force, led by Vice President Pence, held its first briefing in nearly two months, signaling a recognition that the administration can’t ignore the alarming increases.

President Trump did not lead the task force briefing as he had done in previous briefings.  

Pence gave assurances that the U.S. is “in a much better place” than it was two months ago. He said the country has more medical supplies on hand now, a smaller share of patients are being hospitalized, and deaths are much lower than they were in the spring.

"As the president has made clear, we want to open our economy up, we want to move America forward, even while we take and continue to take the steps necessary to save lives and protect the American people," the vice president said. 

The vice president also acknowledged the younger median age of the new cases, and urged residents to do more to take precautions.

"Listen to and respect the guidance of your state and local authorities," Pence said. "Recognize that this is different than two months ago, both in our ability to respond and in the nature of those that are being infected, and that younger Americans have a particular responsibility to ensure they are not carrying the coronavirus into a setting where they would expose it to those vulnerable."

The count of new confirmed infections Friday, provided by Johns Hopkins University, hit 40,000. That eclipsed the previous high of 36,400, set on April 24, during one of the deadliest stretches in the crisis. Newly reported cases per day have risen on average about 60 percent over the past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis.

While the increase in reported cases is believed to reflect, in part, greatly expanded testing, experts say there is ample evidence the virus is making a comeback, including rising deaths and hospitalizations in parts of the country and higher percentages of tests coming back positive for the virus.

At the task force briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, urged people to mind their responsibility to others: “A risk for you is not just isolated to you. Because if you get infected you are part, innocently or inadvertently, of propagating the process of a Pandemic. The chances are if you get infected, you will infect someone else."

Deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. are down to around 600 per day, compared with about 2,200 in mid-April. Some experts have expressed doubt that deaths will return to that level, because of advances in treatment and prevention and because younger adults are more likely than older ones to survive.