A second round of the coronavirus is “inevitable,” the nation’s top infectious disease doctor says, but just how bad it is will depend on the progress the US makes in the coming months.”If by that time we have put into place all of the countermeasures that you need to address this, we should do reasonably well,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
“If we don’t do that successfully, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter.” If states begin lifting restrictions too early, Fauci says he predicts the country could see a rebound of the virus that would “get us right back in the same boat that we were a few weeks ago,” adding that the country could see many more deaths than are currently predicted.
So far, more than 1 million Americans have been infected and at least 58,965 have died. A leading model predicts more than 72,000 people will die in the US by early August. The sobering numbers come as some states move to reopen despite warnings from federal health officials.
Being able to test for the virus, track cases and isolate every infected American will be key factors in ensuring that second wave isn’t as deadly, Fauci says. The US continues to lag behind in testing, according to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The nation has performed 16.4 tests per 1,000 people, according to the report. Spain and Italy, with the second and third highest number of cases after the US, have conducted 22.3 and 29.7 tests per 1,000 people respectively.
Fauci says the federal government needs to provide strategic guidance and assistance to help states up their number of conducted tests. He hopes he can guarantee everyone who needs a test can get one by the end of May or early June.”The truth is that we’re going in the right direction,” he said. “But we need to continue to partner in a very active collaborative way with the states, we need to help them the same way they need to do the execution.”
States are rushing to re-open. Tests are not available. It’s going to happen.
And sadly, for the most part the whole point of rushing this is for GOP-led states to save money:
As states begin to reopen their economies after weeks of stay-at-home orders, some are warning employees that they will lose unemployment benefits if they refuse to return to their jobs, according to The Hill — even if they fear contracting the coronavirus.
In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds (R) said failing to return to work would be considered a “voluntary quit,” which would terminate an employee’s benefits.
“If you’re an employer and you offer to bring your employee back to work and they decide not to, that’s a voluntary quit,” Reynolds said Friday. “Therefore, they would not be eligible for the unemployment money.”
The governor also said employers should file a report with Iowa Workforce Development if they encounter workers who refuse to come back to their jobs.
Beginning on May 1, the state will start lifting social distancing restrictions in 77 of its 99 counties, The Hill reported, which will allow “restaurants, fitness centers, malls, libraries, race tracks, and certain other retail establishments to reopen in a limited fashion with public health measures in place.”
We’re going to see this all over the country. They need to reduce their expenditures on unemployment insurance so they’re going to force people back to work. Most will go, some will refuse, some will get sick and some will die. That’s the deal they are making.
If you think it’s strange that they are doing this in spite of the almost sure rebound of the disease, I think we can safely assume they are indulging inTrumpian magical thinking. Maybe his magical cure will become available before then. Yesterday he said he thinks it’s just “going to go away.” Sure, it could happen …
If it doesn’t work out, well, that’s too bad. Republicans simply cannot go along with these pointy-headed scientists telling them to take it slow.