The New Wave of Covid-19

As Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, Covid-19 cases have begun to develop into a “second wave”. This outbreak in cases has been feared since the beginning of Fall, and now that it is beginning to get cold outside, we can see troubling numbers. On November 17^th there was an increase of 160,000 cases, an unprecedented number we didn’t even see when the virus first came to the US.

It has now been a year since the first case was reported in China, and there is still no sign of when life will get back to normal. Wearing masks is still encouraged or enforced, travel limitations are still in place, schools are still closed, and Lysol is still nowhere to be found. Many were hoping that with the hot summer months Covid-19 would be killed off like the flu, but it was a false hope and we still trudge on with the pandemic leering over us.

Officials are also worried about the upcoming holidays, where many are still planning to travel and see family to eat together. Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said, “I think given the fluid and dynamic nature of what’s going on right now… I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings.” This is especially true for the Mid and Northwest, where cases have had an especially large jump recently. While the East Coast is not as severe as those regions, families may want to curb their holiday plans. Many are tired of staying home all the time and even more people miss their families, it’s getting to a point of Corona fatigue.

According to John Hopkins data, 47% of states had at least 10% more new daily cases than this time last week. Hospitalizations are also up more than they were during the last peak in mid spring. Several governors are fearful of what the death toll could be, Texas has already deployed refrigerator trucks to help with the influx of deceased patients. We have seen 1500 new deaths in the past day already, and that number is expected to increase severely following the massive spike in cases.

There are hopes on the horizon for a better future, two vaccines have reportedly been relatively successful in human trials. The two companies that have developed this vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech, are still in trials however, and making enough to spread it throughout the world would be near impossible to do in a short timeline. Building on these issues, some Americans don’t trust new vaccines, and many have voiced their opposal to getting one. Even with these grim statements, Pfizer is looking to get the vaccine approved by the FDA within days. This makes the development time of the Covid-19 vaccine many times faster than others in the past, destroying records. This may raise concerns about cutting corners, but with a 95% effectiveness rating without any major side effects, we may be lined up to get it very soon.

The Covid-19 pandemic is still present in the world and given the new numbers that have come up within the last few days it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Even with vaccines right around the corner people will still be at risk and the virus will run rampant as long as it can. The world needs to buckle down and prepare for more months ahead.