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“We are going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” predicted the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield warned in a recent interview with The Washington Post about a second wave of coronavirus much more serious than the current one that is likely to coincide with the start of the flu season.
“There is a possibility that the assault of the virus in our nation next winter is actually even more difficult than the one we just went through,” Redfield said. “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time“he added.
The expert stressed that the emergence of two outbreaks of respiratory diseases simultaneously would lead to “unimaginable tension health care “as the first wave of coronavirus alone has been able to collapse hospitals and has revealed a severe shortage of test kits, ventilators, and protective equipment for healthcare workers.
Months of preparation
In order to cope with a possible second wave of coronavirus cases, Redfield stressed the importance of using the coming months as a preparation period. The CDC director commented that federal and state officials must emphasize the importance of continuing the social distancing as the country begins to lift confinement orders, as well as massively expand the capacity of identify new infections through testing and locating the people the infected interact with through contact tracing.
He also underlined the importance that all citizens get a flu shot to reduce their risk and thus lessen the burden on the health system. This measure “may allow a hospital bed to be available for your mother or grandmother who can contract coronavirus,” said the expert.
In order to more effectively manage the new coronavirus outbreak, Redfield revealed that the agency is negotiating with other federal agencies, such as the Census Bureau and volunteers from the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, to build “an alternative workforce“dedicated to comprehensive contact tracking.
“These are all the discussions that are taking place to try to determine what is the optimal strategy to be used,” he said. “And it can be a combination of all three.”
To this day, the USA tops the list of countries most affected by the pandemic. In its territory are registered 825,306 positive cases coronavirus, according to data updated this Sunday by the Center for Science and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Since the outbreak began, 45,075 deaths from covid-19 have occurred in the country, while 75,673 people have managed to overcome the disease.
