• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
A second wave of coronavirus? Scientists say the world is still deep in the first. thumbnail

A second wave of coronavirus? Scientists say the world is still deep in the first.

August 2, 2020
Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4% thumbnail

Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4%

February 4, 2023
Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated) thumbnail

Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated)

February 4, 2023
Record cold snap could hit New England this weekend thumbnail

Record cold snap could hit New England this weekend

February 3, 2023
Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War: Report thumbnail

Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War: Report

February 3, 2023
GoodRx fined $1.5 million for allegedly selling users’ health data thumbnail

GoodRx fined $1.5 million for allegedly selling users’ health data

February 3, 2023
Small Businesses Lost 75,000 Jobs in January thumbnail

Small Businesses Lost 75,000 Jobs in January

February 2, 2023
DARPA wants to push the boundaries of where satellites can fly thumbnail

DARPA wants to push the boundaries of where satellites can fly

February 2, 2023
Pamela Anderson says she and Kid Rock broke up over her 'Borat' cameo thumbnail

Pamela Anderson says she and Kid Rock broke up over her ‘Borat’ cameo

February 2, 2023
Biden and McCathy's debt-ceiling talk is a clash of strategies thumbnail

Biden and McCathy’s debt-ceiling talk is a clash of strategies

February 2, 2023
Doc Re-Used Nasal Surgery Devices; Humira Patent Game; Nonprofit Hospital Tactics thumbnail

Doc Re-Used Nasal Surgery Devices; Humira Patent Game; Nonprofit Hospital Tactics

February 2, 2023
Market Your Business With These National Days in February 2023 thumbnail

Market Your Business With These National Days in February 2023

February 1, 2023
Here’s How Much Emergency Cash You Should Keep at Home thumbnail

Here’s How Much Emergency Cash You Should Keep at Home

February 1, 2023
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
  • Donate
Saturday, February 4, 2023
66 °f
Wellfleet
58 ° Tue
63 ° Wed
68 ° Thu
61 ° Fri
  • Login
  • Register
FREE Cape Cod News
DONATE
  • FREE Cape Cod News
  • News
    • News
    • Cape Cod News
    • Massachusetts
    • Breaking News
    • Cape Cod Weather
    • Storm Watch
    • Environment
  • Politics
    • democrats
    • republicans
  • Business
    • business
    • cryptocurrency
    • economy
    • money
    • Real Estate
    • Tech
  • World
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Photos
    • Orleans
    • Eastham
    • Wellfleet
    • Truro
    • Provincetown
    • Brewster
    • Chatham
  • Videos
No Result
View All Result
Free Cape Cod News
No Result
View All Result
  • FREE Cape Cod News
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • World
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Photos
  • Videos
Home Lifestyle Fitness / Health

A second wave of coronavirus? Scientists say the world is still deep in the first.

FREE Cape Cod News by FREE Cape Cod News
August 2, 2020
in Coronavirus, World
Reading Time: 3 mins read
Donate
0
A second wave of coronavirus? Scientists say the world is still deep in the first. thumbnail
636
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
Australia. Belgium. Hong Kong. Israel. Spain. Vietnam.

Places around the world that fought back novel coronavirus outbreaks in the spring are reporting record surges in new cases. In the United States, Arizona, Florida and Texas, along with other states, have become epicenters, whereas New York City bore the brunt in March and April.

Many countries have celebrated contractions in case numbers, only to see new spikes. According to some public officials, a second swell is around the corner. “I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier this week.

Not so fast or simple, many researchers warn.

“We are still in the first wave,” said Loren Lipworth, an epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “As we ease up on restrictions, there is always going to be a resurgence in cases. It’s not that it’s a new wave of the virus.”

What counts as a second wave?

A “second wave,” in the context of a viral pandemic, does not have a formal scientific definition. It is most often understood to describe two scenarios: when an outbreak recedes almost entirely before returning, or when it ebbs and flows on a seasonal basis. Mutations in the virus may occur along the way, sparking new infections.

David Weber, an epidemiologist and medical director at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, said the term has been used to describe trends during past outbreaks, including the 1918 influenza and 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto.

In those instances, unlike most countries’ coronavirus outbreaks, “they essentially got down to zero” new infections before a second surge, he said.

“If you got down to no cases it would count potentially as a new wave,” he said.

But few places have banished the virus only to see it return, while many have seen infection levels drop amid lockdowns and rise as economies restart.

“This is going to wax and wane,” he said. “It’s worldwide now. It’s not going away.”

The coronavirus is not following a flu-season-like trajectory either. “The patterns are not based on seasons,” said Lipworth. “There’s still so much that we don’t know.”

Earlier in the pandemic, a popular theory held that the virus might decline during hot summer months. Instead, confirmed infections soared in the United States, as in some countries with hot climates year-round, and cases have climbed across much of Asia and Europe.

What term works best?

The idea of a second wave is flawed and could be misleading, because it obscures the continuous threat the virus poses, along with the need to keep stringent measures in place, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said during a news briefing Tuesday.

The WHO proposed a different turn of phrase: “One big wave.”

The severity of the ongoing wave is modulated by the adoption of and adherence to policies mean to slow the spread, experts said.

“What is affecting the transmission of this virus is mass gatherings, it is people coming together and people not social distancing, not taking the precautions to ensure they are not in close contact,” Harris said at the briefing.

Lipworth and Weber shared the WHO’s assessment.

“The first wave was always there but we were able to flatten it down,” Lipworth said. The “question is how long can we stay there.”

Nobody should be surprised, she said, that cities or countries that rescinded restrictions swiftly without adopting strong, ongoing infection control measures have seen new spikes in cases.

“As we ease up on restrictions, there are always going to be a resurgence in cases,” she said.

Weber said he prefers to picture covid-19 as a wave that grows and shrinks — with two or perhaps many peaks.

“It’s going to go up and down a bit,” Harris said. “The best thing is to flatten it and turn it into just something lapping at your feet.”

Read More

Tags: coronavirus

FREE Digital Newspaper Subscription!
Sign up for your free digital subscription. The FREE Cape Cod News

Unsubscribe
FREE Cape Cod News

FREE Cape Cod News

Free Cape Cod News is what's happening in the Cape Cod, U.S and World & what people are talking about right now. Local newspaper. Stay in the know. Subscribe to get notified about our latest news.

Related Posts

This Korean robodog proves running on sand isn’t just for ‘Baywatch’ thumbnail
News

This Korean robodog proves running on sand isn’t just for ‘Baywatch’

by FREE Cape Cod News
January 29, 2023
NY state health agency considers nixed COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers thumbnail
Coronavirus

NY state health agency considers nixed COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers

by FREE Cape Cod News
January 19, 2023
Euro zone business lending growth slows sharply in November thumbnail
Business

Euro zone business lending growth slows sharply in November

by FREE Cape Cod News
December 30, 2022
U.S. considers new Covid rules for travelers from China amid surge in cases thumbnail
Coronavirus

U.S. considers new Covid rules for travelers from China amid surge in cases

by FREE Cape Cod News
December 29, 2022
Load More
Please login to join discussion

Follow Us on Twitter

FREE Cape Cod News - Your source for local Cape Cod news, latest breaking U.S. and World news. Every day, all day. Subscribe for your favorite categories.

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated) thumbnail

Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated)

February 4, 2023
Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War: Report thumbnail

Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War: Report

February 3, 2023
Biden taps Democrat on interstate energy commission as its interim chair thumbnail

Biden taps Democrat on interstate energy commission as its interim chair

January 4, 2023
Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4% thumbnail

Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4%

February 4, 2023
Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated) thumbnail

Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated)

February 4, 2023
Record cold snap could hit New England this weekend thumbnail

Record cold snap could hit New England this weekend

February 3, 2023

FREE Cape Cod News On Twitter

Today’s News

  • Labor Market Added 517,000 Jobs In January—Unemployment Rate Falls To 54-Year Low Of 3.4% February 4, 2023
  • Busting That Chinese Spy Balloon Is Harder Than You Think (Updated) February 4, 2023
  • Record cold snap could hit New England this weekend February 3, 2023
  • Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War: Report February 3, 2023
  • GoodRx fined $1.5 million for allegedly selling users’ health data February 3, 2023
FREE Cape Cod News

Copyright © 2022 Free Cape Cod News

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
  • Donate

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • FREE Cape Cod News
  • News
    • News
    • Cape Cod News
    • Massachusetts
    • Breaking News
    • Cape Cod Weather
    • Storm Watch
    • Environment
  • Politics
    • democrats
    • republicans
  • Business
    • business
    • cryptocurrency
    • economy
    • money
    • Real Estate
    • Tech
  • World
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Photos
    • Orleans
    • Eastham
    • Wellfleet
    • Truro
    • Provincetown
    • Brewster
    • Chatham
  • Videos
  • Login
  • Sign Up

Copyright © 2022 Free Cape Cod News

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist