As the US presidential elections are coming nearer and nearer, the debate around coronavirus infection is becoming more significant. During the recent Trump rallies, the current president has stated that the new cases of the virus will be under control soon.
On the other hand, Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent, and second presidential candidate has said the exact opposite and emphasized how the country is likely to experience a ‘dark winter’ in the coming months due to the rising number of infections across different states.
According to health experts and the recent statistics on the progress over the pandemic in the US, Biden’s statement is far more likely to be true than president Trump’s claim of controlling cases.
The new reports from the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention show an average of 537,501 cases per week in the past month as well average mortality rates of 5,655, also in the time period of a single week.
In comparison with the past months, the increase in hospitalizations due to coronavirus infection has also increased by one hundred and forty percent in many of the states.
At the start of the month of October, the average daily reported cases were a little over forty-four thousand. However, by the end of the month, the figure has increased to almost eighty thousand.
Therefore, health experts are also stating similar opinions regarding ‘dark winter’ and the condition of the pandemic in the country and asking people to take health precautions more seriously with the start of colder seasons.
Although the US and many other countries had lifted coronavirus-related lockdowns completely by the end of summer, a surge in cases has only started happening in the past few weeks.
European countries including Spain, Italy, and others are also reporting a rapid increase in cases, which is why they have re-imposed most of the previous restrictions including time restrictions on businesses and limited gatherings.
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Italy has even gone as far as to mandate face masks in outdoor public spaces in order to lower down the transmission levels of the virus. However, if the restrictions have been lifted since summer, why is it that cases have only started increasing recently?
In accordance with health experts, there are multiple contributors to coronavirus outbreaks in the US and other countries.
The beginning of colder months has actually urged people to spend more time at home rather than outside but this has also made people arrange gatherings and events in indoor spaces as well, which are known to be riskier than open spaces.
Additionally, the majority of people are not taking coronavirus guidelines seriously. A CDC report from the past week showed that adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty-nine are least likely to avoid crowded spaces and wear a mask.
Younger adults can spread the virus much more than older adults, which is why there are much higher chances of outbreaks if they do not follow even the most basic guidelines.
Moreover, it should be noted that the negligence of guidelines will not only spread coronavirus easily in winters but also the influenza virus.
Consequently, it will cause a higher number of cases of both infections and hospitalizations, thereby overwhelming hospitals further. The difficulties in controlling the spread of multiple infections and managing cases can indeed make it a dark winter for the US.
