Experts warn of second coronavirus wave. Trump says he won’t shut down US if it comes
As all 50 states have started to reopen from coronavirus lockdowns, experts warn of a second wave.
But if that second wave comes, President Donald Trump said it wouldn’t lead him to shut down the country to slow the virus’ spread, according to The Hill.
“People say that’s a very distinct possibility. It’s standard. And we’re going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country. We’re going to put out the fires,” Trump said on Thursday. “Whether it’s an ember or a flame, we’re going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.”
A model created by PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that the risk for a second COVID-19 wave is high in the counties of Crawford, Iowa; Texas, Oklahoma; Colfax, Nebraska, and Richmond, Virginia, The Washington Post reported.
Colfax’s coronavirus cases have increased by 1,390% and Crawford’s have gone up 750% since May 3, according to The Washington Post.
The model looked at COVID-19 cases in 389 counties and observed how population density, social distancing, and temperatures impact the number of infections. Age, insurance status, and smoking were taken into account. Researchers used cell phone movement data to track social distancing.
“As communities reopen, we’re starting to detect evidence of resurgence in cases in places that have overreached a bit,” David Rubin, director of PolicyLab, told The Washington Post.
Connecticut was one of the last states to start to ease restrictions on Wednesday as all 50 states have started to reopen in some capacity, The Wall Street Journal reported. Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C, said the nation’s capital could begin a phased reopening on May 29, according to WTOP.
Most of the states are beginning to reopen despite not meeting the criteria outlined by the Trump administration, including a decline of new cases over two weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Health experts have previously warned of a second coronavirus wave.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a second wave is “inevitable,” according to CNN.
Fauci also said that the virus “is so transmissible, and it is so widespread throughout the world, that even if our infections get well controlled and go down dramatically during the summer, there is virtually no chance it will be eradicated,” Business Insider reported.
Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, an internal medicine physician at Sutter Health in San Francisco, told CBS that a second wave of cases is “very, very likely to happen.”
Ungerleider said the flu season happening at the same time as a second wave could lead to “a lot of confusion due to the overlap in symptoms,” CBS reported.
This may put a heavy strain on an already taxed healthcare system, so I think we need to be preparing for this now,” Ungerleider told the outlet.
Researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) released a report that laid out three potential scenarios for the virus. Scenario 1 involves smaller waves throughout summer 2020 and then “repetitive smaller waves” over a one-to-two year period. Scenario 2 is an initial wave in the spring followed by a second larger wave in the fall or winter of 2020.
“This pattern (in scenario 2) will require the reinstitution of mitigation measures in the fall in an attempt to drive down spread of infection and prevent healthcare systems from being overwhelmed,” researchers wrote. “This pattern is similar to what was seen with the 1918-19 pandemic.”
Scenario 3 is a first wave followed by a “slow burn” of new cases.
“States, territories, and tribal health authorities should plan for the worst-case scenario,” the authors wrote.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 8:47 AM with the headline "Experts warn of second coronavirus wave. Trump says he won’t shut down US if it comes."