As spring break approaches, a COVID-19 surge could well be in the forecast.
Coronavirus cases continue to decrease across the country, and public health experts are warning increased travel over spring break could cause numbers to spike again, according to an NBC News report.
The weeks following holiday season saw a substantial rise in the number of deaths and hospitalizations to some of the highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
With the possibility of college students and families flying to warm locations, and the addition of several COVID-19 variants, some experts worry that the progress made pushing back the virus could be curtailed.
"Any event that involves increased travel and people relaxing preventative measures is a concern," Amber D'Souza, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told NBC.
And with the country seeing six weeks of decreasing cases, many cities and states are beginning to roll back restrictions, which often makes people less vigilant about following safety precautions.
"This is exactly what we saw after Thanksgiving and after Christmas," D'Souza added. "It's an ongoing cycle and an ongoing concern."
Last year, we saw local outbreaks of the virus following spring break travel. To try and get ahead of the cycle, some Florida cities are adding restrictions and implementing curfews.
"If you're coming here because you think it's an anything-goes place, please turn around or go somewhere else," Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told WPLG-TV.
Meanwhile, leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted the United States has "done worse than most any other country" in battling the novel virus, despite being a "highly developed, rich country."
"It's so tough to just go back and try and, you know, do a metaphorical autopsy on how things went. It was just bad. It is bad now," Fauci added.
As of Wednesday, the United States has reported 504,135 deaths from the coronavirus, the most out of any other nation in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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