| In this week's edition of the Covid Q&A, we look at what the cold weather might bring for the virus. In hopes of making this very confusing time just a little less so, each week Bloomberg Prognosis is picking one question sent in by readers and putting it to experts in the field. This week's question comes to us from Rebecca in Albany, New York. She asks:
What will happen to infection rates in the U.S. when cold weather returns next fall?
While many parts of the world are still battling outbreaks of Covid-19, this summer in the U.S. it's started to feel like the pandemic is over. Many states have completely done away with restrictions, and national case numbers are at their lowest levels since the pandemic began. But new, more contagious variants of the virus are on the rise, and there are regional pockets of vaccine holdouts that threaten to keep Covid in circulation.
All this suggests, unfortunately, is that it's likely the U.S. isn't done with the coronavirus just yet.
"While it's not purely a function of cooler temperature, Covid will rise again in the fall (if it doesn't before)," says Andrew Noymer, a professor of public health at University of California, Irvine. "Covid's future is as a seasonal disease in the fashion of influenza — and Covid's future is now. Covid will be back in the fall or winter, or both."
Without U.S. inoculation rates far higher than their current level, Noymer says, vaccines are unlikely to stop a cold-weather surge.
"The vaccines will make the coming wave less severe than the one that crested in January 2021, but vaccination rates are currently not high enough to prevent another wave," he says.  Health experts predict a resurgence of Covid during the next U.S. winter. How severe it will be is the question. Photographer: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP A resurgence was always likely, he says, but more contagious strains like the delta variant first identified in India may make the wave come sooner.
"Every major viral respiratory disease is seasonal with a winter dominance," he says. "Influenza doesn't vanish, and neither will Covid."
Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington, said that projections by the school's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show a slow rise in cases in early September that will pick up with winter and peak in late January or early February. How bad it gets, he says, will depend on vaccination coverage, the variants in circulation and whether people return to habits like mask-wearing. Still, several Covid vaccines appear to be far more efficacious than those for the seasonal flu. That means that while we may see a resurgence of the coronavirus, the worst is still most likely behind us. Thanks to all of you for writing in this week! Next Sunday, we'll be answering the best question we receive again. So if you have any, we want to hear from you. Write to us at CovidQs@bloomberg.net—Kristen V. Brown | 
◊↝µ〖OnLine!.〗 2020 Bhoot Pori Full Movie Online released 2020. story: Upcoming Movie By Soukarya GhosalBhoot Pori Full Movie Online. ▴Bhoo...
Post a Comment