Next wave of coronavirus in US could be far worse

A second wave of the coronavirus is expected to hit the United States next winter and could strike much harder than the first because it would likely arrive at the start of influenza season, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Tuesday.

“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 told the Washington Post.

As the current outbreak continues to taper off, as shown by a recent decline in hospitalization rates and other indicators, authorities need to prepare for a probable resurgence in the months ahead.

“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he said, and the combination would put even greater strain on the nation’s healthcare system than the first outbreak.

Getting a flu shot ahead of next flu season, he said, “may allow there to be a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that may get coronavirus.”

The first known US infection, a travel-related case, was diagnosed on January 20 in Washington state. Since then, over 800,000 people have tested positive and more than 45,000 have died from the disease.

Redfield and other public health authorities credit drastic stay-at-home orders and widespread business and school closings for slowing the spread of infections. But the restrictions have also stifled American commerce while throwing at least 22 million people out of work over the past four weeks. Asked about the flurry of street protests against stay-at-home orders and calls for states to be “liberated” from such restrictions, he said, “It’s not helpful.”

Even as the lockdown is gradually eased, Redfield stressed the importance of individuals continuing to practice social distancing among one another.

At the same time, he said, public health authorities must vastly ramp up a testing system to identify those who are infected and to locate their close personal interactions through contact tracing.