Experts Say the Predicted Fall COVID-19 Surge is Here

Cases of COVID-19 are soaring, reaching 50,000 new cases daily, and experts say these numbers will continue to rise. While the Midwest and Northern states have been hardest hit, 33 states reported an increase of cases this past week over the previous week, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Peter Hotez, an expert in global health and tropical disease control at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN, “This is the fall/winter surge that everyone was worried about. And now it’s happening.”

If this disturbing trend continues, and we cannot turn it around, the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics predicts more than 135,000 Americans will perish from COVID-19 in the next few months. Hotez added that the next four months “could be the worst time in our pandemic. Get ready to hunker down.”

Some states have reported record-high hospitalizations, according to CNN, and healthcare workers nationwide are still facing shortages of personal protective equipment or PPE. There has been a 13% increase in the number of children infected by COVID-19, coinciding with a return to in-classroom schooling.

According to The Washington Post, experts predicted a cold-weather surge in coronavirus cases that could crest weeks after the election. Experts say that cooler, drier weather favors the viability of viruses and as the weather gets colder, people spend more time indoors which also escalates transmission, according to the Post.

In the meantime, two Phase 3 clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine candidates have been paused in the U.S. because of medical complications in volunteers. Both pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca had to halt their trials because of adverse events.