Experts say a second wave of COVID-19 cases will increase this fall, with the epidemic peaking after election day on November 3.
The Washington Post reports that doctors at Johns Hopkins University are focusing on what they call “Surge 2.0” where they envisage another large outbreak of the virus that could potentially rob Kovid-1 patients of their medical facilities.
Lisa Lockard Maragakis, an associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases, said that although the virus has killed nearly 100,000 Americans so far, there could be a risk of another significant increase across the country.
“Although we have had a lot of cases and we have had a lot of tragic deaths, we still have a majority of people who are not immune to this virus,” Maragakis said. “Without therapeutic or vaccines, we are still in a situation where the transmission of the virus depends heavily on our behavior every day.”
Other Hopkins experts predict that a change in se tu from autumn to winter will bring a second wave, causing growing infections and clusters to grow and spread more quickly.
“My feeling is that there’s a wave coming, and it’s not so much whether it’s coming but how big it’s going to be,” said Ily Klein, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The University of Washington’s University of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) on Friday released a new COVID-19 forecast predicting an “average” death of 1,907 potentially infected patients on election day, “almost double the current figure.”
The IHME forecast added that the number would continue to rise by December, with a daily loss of 2,000,000.
Experts say the dominant force controlling the outbreak of COVID-19 is still in the hands of how citizens strictly adhere to local hand-held epidemic restrictions.
“People’s behavior here is a dramatic decision,” said Christopher Murray, director of IHME. “Look at what happened in Florida [after the spike in cases]. People panicked. They started wearing masks, they stopped going to the bar. “
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