Coronavirus second wave could be a whole lot worse: US health chief
22 April, 2020
Another wave of the novel coronavirus in america could be a lot more destructive because it will probably collide with the start of flu season, one of the country's top health officials said Tuesday.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called on Americans to utilize the coming months to get ready -- and obtain flu shots.
"There's a probability that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will in actuality be even more complicated than the one we just experienced," he was quoted as saying within an interview with the Washington Post published late Tuesday.
"We're going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic as well," he said.
US has recorded a lot more than 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of pandemic, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, with 44,845 deaths -- the most reported of any country.
Billions of people all over the world have been ordered to remain at home lately as governments try to avoid the highly contagious coronavirus from overwhelming healthcare systems.
The US, like other countries, has scrambled to safe enough ventilators and personal protection equipment for medical staff as the death toll mounts.
Redfield said the virus arrived in the united states just as regular flu season -- which itself can strain healthcare systems -- was waning.
If the two diseases had peaked as well, he told the Post, "it could have already been really, really, really, really difficult" for health systems to deal.
Obtaining a flu shot before next flu season, he said, "may allow there to become a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that gets coronavirus".
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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