CINCINNATI (WKRC) – We’re already hearing that in some parts of the United States, emergency rooms and intensive care units are nearing capacity once again from new cases of the coronavirus.
“There has been some increasing prevalence of disease in some southern states,” said Dr. Stephen Blatt, an infection control specialist at TriHealth. “Arizona, Texas, especially some border states.”
The problem is a second wave is unavoidable, according to infection control specialists who follow virus trends. It’s just a case of whether we get a slow drip rather than a surge.
“You can avoid a second wave if you have the capability, the manpower, the infrastructure, the tasks to do the identification, isolation and contact tracing so that when those blips come up, you’ll be able to prevent them by containing them from becoming an outbreak,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci. “So, you talk about a second wave as a big explosive outbreak. It isn’t inevitable that that will happen. If when you get the inevitable little blips that happen, you suppress them. So, we’re hoping we don’t get a second wave, but we have to be prepared for a second wave and we can blunt it if we respond to it in a proper manner.”
We may also get help from emerging vaccines.
“Three of those projects have announced they’re coming close to entering phase three trials. One as early as the end of this summer and into the fall,” said Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, the president and CEO of Biology Innovation Organization (BIO).
Since the virus is expected to re-emerge more dominantly when we hit fall flu season, this too might help us better ride the second wave.
