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Walensky said the CDC is investigating outbreaks at a local level in individual states. The largest increases have occurred in Michigan, Connecticut, North Dakota, New York, Iowa and Vermont.

\"I think we are seeing that many of these states are opening up at levels that we wouldn't necessarily recommend. I am working with the governors. I will be speaking with them tomorrow to try and buckle down on trying to refrain from opening up too fast,\" she said.

Walensky reflected on her experience treating COVID-19 patients over the last year, saying she has been the last person to sit with someone's loved one when they were dying and knows the stress on healthcare providers not sure if they'll have the resources to treat every patient.

And she said with the vaccination effort underway the end of the pandemic is within reach, but she said until more Americans are vaccinated everyone has to continue wearing masks, refrain from nonessential travel, and take steps to prevent more people from becoming sick. She warned another COVID-19 surge along the lines of last summer or the winter would slow down efforts to vaccinate more people.

\"We have come such a long way. Three historic scientific breakthrough vaccines, and we are rolling them out so very fast. So I'm speaking today not necessarily as your CDC director or not only as your CDC director, but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, to ask you to just please hold on for a little while longer,\" she said.

\"I so badly want to be done, I know you all so badly want to be done, we're just almost there, but not quite yet. And so I'm asking you to just hold on a little longer to get vaccinated when you can, so that all of those people that we all love was still be here when this pandemic ends,\" she said.

ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

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