COVID-19 and a 2nd wave: questions and implications Image from Skynews – August 1
New York City had been the an epicenter of the pandemic in the United States in the spring from March to May until cases and hospitalizations started dipping. Now NYC is now longer an epicenter after having gone through this first wave while many other parts of the country are going through their own first wave. One of the biggest questions on most people’s minds is whether this first wave will pass finally once and for all or whether there will be a resurgence as a 2 nd wave.
Most experts seem to suggest that there may be more infections but less morbidity and mortality. This is especially due to practitioners and researchers learning more about how to treat COVID-19 symptoms as they have developed various protocols or discovered certain treatments along the way which help in dealing with the virus. This is certainly better than in early April, when as the virus was tearing through NYC, physicians were trying to grapple with the various symptoms and understand a strategy with which to deal this it while being overwhelmed by the incredible influx of sick patients. This helped a lot in bringing the curve down and reducing the disease impact. Use of Remdesivir, convalescent plasma, and anticoagulation protocols helped to bring the curve down as well. However, what has been happening in the rest of the country is reminiscent of that burden. One would think that the strategies learned in NYC and the northeast in general would translate to the rest of the country and would have controlled a first wave, but that did not all seem to happen and the wave of positive cases and hospitalizations had also gone up dramatically.
Fortunately, the good news is that the reality of a 2 nd wave is much less likely or at least the severity of a 2nd wave as compared to a 1st wave is less likely. By the time of a 2nd wave, existing treatments being put to use will continue to make their way into medical practices. Every day these are being refined. Much hope is being placed on vaccines but when these can be released are uncertain and they should not be released too early without fully understanding their safety.
Written by Usha Govindarajulu September 14, 2020