A new study shows we may be social distancing for a very long time.
The findings come from a team epidemiologists and immunologists at Harvard's School of Public Health and were published in the Journal Science. It claims prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2024 due to Covid-19. The virus is projected to peak in Texas towards the end of the month.
Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston says it is likely the virus will return in periodic waves. "Potentially with some seasonality, so we might anticipate that eventually the virus will get into a seasonal rhythm where it comes back on an annual basis, maybe in the winter and then may have to implement social distancing again."He says the worst thing that can happen is what happened in Italy and Spain, where a huge surge of patients overwhelmed hospitals because that's when the mortality rates go up.He says we need a type of roadmap from the nation, and the Centers for Disease Control should take the lead. "To guide us how we navigate for the next couple of years as this virus returns periodically and what are the signals when we have to reimplement social distancing."There are vaccine studies underway. Mass production of a vaccine is likely over a year away.
