Whether another wave of coronavirus has hit depends on where exactly you live, but cases are clearly surging across the United States and Europe
As the country prepares for its next big spike in COVID-19, many are asking themselves—are we already in it?
New York Magazine tacked the beginning of this wave to President Trump’s diagnosis at the beginning of October. Numbers of cases across the country are rising, particularly in the midwest and rural regions.
The Daily Beast noted that rising cases there have become so bad that a candidate running for a seat in the state’s house of representatives, has passed away but will still be on the election ballot.
The country as a whole now has more than 8 million known cases, according to The New York Times. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wisconsin have all reached troubling new case rates: over 300 cases per 100,000 people. But the general upward trend extends beyond those states. In total, 45 states are seeing increased cases numbers.
Meanwhile, Europe is facing a new spate of shutdowns. The World Health Organization noted in a press briefing last week that Europe’s case numbers grew by a million in the short span of 10 days, bringing the total number of reported cases to 7 million.
Even though the organization anticipates more cases and more burden to hospitals during this spike than in April, there was a bright spot in the report.
“Although we record two to three times more cases per day compared to the April peak, we still observe five times fewer deaths,” said, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. He cuffs the higher infection to more testing capacity, especially among young people, and higher transmission among young people. That also explains the lower death rate.
A much larger number of people could die in this upcoming season of COVID-19 than did in April, Kluge said.
In Europe, politicians are strategically locking down hotspots as opposed to whole cities. New York City has taken a similar approach, shutting down businesses, schools, and houses of worship in areas where virus numbers are climbing. While New York has seen a growth in cases, Columbia University’s Wafaa El-Sadr says it’s too early to say that New York is in its winter wave.
Her comment hits on the truly local nature of infection waves. This may make it hard to know whether you as an individual are in the trough or peak of a wave. It also doesn’t tell you anything about how high the wave you’re in will reach when it ultimately crests. All that depends on local tactics.
Reference: Fast Company
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