CDC Director Says Second Wave Of Wuhan Coronavirus May Be MORE Severe Than The First Wave
It looks like things aren’t going to go back to “normal” for a long, long time.
Robert Redfield, Director for the Center for Disease Control, told the Washinton Post that the second wave of the pandemic may be more devastating than the first.
With the number of deaths due to the coronavirus, that is a hard thing to hear.
Although the fear of a ventilator shortage didn’t come to fruition, there is concern that a bad flu season and the WuFlu occurring simultaneously could do just that.
“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in an interview with The Washington Post. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”
“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he said.
Having two simultaneous respiratory outbreaks would put unimaginable strain on the health-care system, he said. The first wave of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has already killed more than 42,000 people across the country. It has overwhelmed hospitals and revealed gaping shortages in test kits, ventilators and protective equipment for health-care workers.
This is still speculation, but what Redfield is saying is something that has been openly spoken of in conservative circles since the outbreak began.
So, if you think that we’re getting back to “normal” anytime soon, sadly, you’re mistaken.
We’re still going to be social distancing, you’ll probably be seeing more masks, and handshakes are going to be verboten for a while.
That doesn’t mean we’re all going to shelter-in-place forever, businesses will close, and kids will all be homeschooled, but it does mean that things are going to change in order to keep the curve flat.
The CDC realizes that we can’t continue to destroy the economy forever, so they have created guidelines soon to be released on how to phase-in a safe reopening.
The CDC has also drafted detailed guidance for state and local governments on how they can ease mitigation efforts, moving from drastic restrictions such as stay-at-home orders in a phased way to support a safe reopening. Redfield said that guidance will be “in the public domain shortly.”
The CDC has about 500 staff in the states working on a variety of public health issues, and most will pivot to the covid-19 response, Redfield said. The CDC also plans to hire at least another 650 people as experts to “substantially augment” public health personnel in the states and assist with contact tracing, among other tasks, he said.
Source: Washington Post
Buckle up, kiddies, it’s going to be a bumpy ride for the next few months!
