Doctors Warn US is in a Coronavirus “free fall”
New COVID-19 infections are rising in the United States with some hospitals running out of beds. But it seems Americans don’t care as there were packed holiday crowds this weekend. Doctors are warning that the US is in a coronavirus “free fall.” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital said, “We are in free fall.”
Dr. Walensky said, “You see the footage of what happened this past weekend. And people are either naive to the influence of their actions, or they’re simply resigned to ignore it.” The virus is highly contagious and it can easily infect others without any symptoms. United States is daily reporting more than 50,000 new cases.
“We know of the 50,000 cases this past day — a single day of this (holiday) weekend,” Walensky said. “If they’re young people, it could be 500 people who die from that. If they’re older people, it could be 7,500 people who die from that — just from a single day of infection.” Walensky said a person has the potential to harm others even if the virus doesn’t him individually.
The COVID-19 has infected around 3 million Americans, including a growing number of young adults. The virus has taken the lives of more than 129,000 Americans and leaving many with long-term complications. Walensky said, “Let’s remember there are 300 million people in this country who remain susceptible and have been uninfected so far, and this virus is far from running out of people to infect.”
Dr Walensky warned that conditions will get much worse if we didn’t change our behavior. Doctors are worried that more hospitalizations and deaths will come in the coming weeks. Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston said, “We’re accelerating nationally. … The number of cases still continues to accelerate.”
