So far, more than 805,000 people have been tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the US and the deadly virus has claimed over 40,000 lives.

According to the speculations of the director of the Center for Disease Control, an even more devastating wave of the disease can strike the US the coming fall.

Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC said that Americans should be prepared for an even severe wave of the disease that would be concurrent with the coming flu season.

Speaking to Washington post, the director said: “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.”

Dr. Redfield said that he did warn people about this earlier, but his warnings were not taken seriously.

“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” the health expert said.

“And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”

Redfield is not the only health professional warning about this expected second wave of coronavirus. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has also warned that there would be a second wave of the disease this fall.

“There is always the possibility as we get into next fall, and the beginning of early winter, that we could see a rebound,” Dr. Fauci told CNN.

Dr. Redfield also opined in his statement to Washington Post that America was in luck to have been struck by the deadly virus by the end of the flu season of 2019-2020.

He said that if the virus had spread any earlier, “it could have been really, really, really, really difficult in terms of health capacity.”

Before the start of the next flu season, state authorities and governors need to be ready for the second strike of the virus by increasing testing capacity and improving contact tracing.

It is necessary to trace the close contacts of those who test positive for the virus so that they can be told to quarantine themselves instead of spreading the virus while being oblivious of the fact that they’ve been infected, Dr. Redfield said.

The director further said that social distancing needs to stay enforced even though the president and the governors of some states including Georgia and Florida have started to lift off the lockdown orders.

The virologist said that the people protesting to urge the lawmakers to end stay-at-home orders are “not helpful.” He also made it clear that social distancing has had an “enormous impact” on slowing down the spread of the virus.

The director also said that the CDC will soon tell the local governments and governors how they can safely reopen.

Dr. Redfield has suggested that Americans should get flu shots this summer. Even though there’s no vaccine for COVID-19 so far, getting a seasonal flu shot “may allow there to be a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that may get coronavirus,” the doctor said.

 

 

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