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Winter 2020-2021 could bring a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new warning by Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued on Tuesday.
It is well known that influenza ramps up during the winter months, and for that reason, this time is commonly referred to as flu season. Medical experts expect that the prevalence of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, will behave in the same manner. Doctors expect a ramping up of coronavirus will occur simultaneously with peak flu season.
“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,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield in an interview.
Medical and disease experts are still researching to determine if warmer weather will slow the transmission of the novel coronavirus. Researchers have gone back and forth on this point and the answer remains unclear.
A panel of infectious disease experts from the National Academies of Sciences reported to the White House earlier this month that the warmer weather is unlikely to diminish the coronavirus, and CoronavirusTask Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci concurred with their findings.
However, the jury is still out on this one. Other studies have shown that ultraviolet radiation, such as that delivered through sunlight, seems to diminish the survival of the virus on surfaces. Different levels of humidity and warm weather also seem to have an effect.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: “generally, coronaviruses survive for shorter periods of time at higher temperatures and higher humidity than in cooler or dryer environments.”
One of the main concerns that drove federal and state officials to issue stay-at-home orders was the danger of overwhelming hospital capacity. For this reason, hospitals were also forced to cancel all elective surgeries.
This even impacteded people who were trying to get treatment in a drug rehab inpatients center. But now, as the number of inpatient coronavirus cases are falling, many hospitals are beginning to once again schedule elective surgeries or otherwise asking their local officials to lift the ban on such procedures.
Hospitals in some areas are empty and are on the verge of going bankrupt if they can’t get back to their normal manner of working with elective surgeries.
