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The Sacramento Bee
By Don Sweeney
Will the United States see a second round of mass lockdowns as coronavirus cases continue to rise? Public health experts say it’s unlikely, but not for medical reasons.
“I see no viable path to further lockdowns,” wrote Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, on Twitter.
My concern is that the pandemic has become so politicized in this country that even if governors and state officials try to reinstitute lockdowns it will not work,” agreed Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease specialist at the center, also on Twitter.
“So many people are ‘over #COVID19,’ ” Kuppalli wrote. “It’s going to keep getting worse.”
More than 8.2 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 444,000 deaths as of Wednesday, June 17, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2.1 million confirmed cases with more than 117,000 deaths.
The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.
CORONAVIRUS CASES CONTINUE TO RISE
The WHO sounded the alarm last week about a potential coronavirus resurgence , McClatchy News previously reported.
“More than six months into this pandemic, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO. He said the global coronavirus outlook had worsened.
In the United States, 21 states have seen increases in average daily new cases as lockdowns and stay-home orders are gradually lifted, The Washington Post reported.
“We are seeing infections to a greater degree than they had previously seen in certain states, including states in the southwest and in the south,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, The Daily Beast reported.
“I don’t like to talk about a second wave right now, because we haven’t gotten out of our first wave,” Fauci said, according to the publication.
And local outbreaks in several states, including Arizona, Texas, Alabama, and North and South Carolina, are causing hospitals to fill up, Stat reports.
COULD A NEW ROUND OF LOCKDOWN ORDERS HELP?
A study in the scientific journal Nature found that coronavirus lockdowns likely prevented 4.8 million confirmed cases and up to 60 million infections total in the United States.
Officials in at least three U.S. communities are saying new shutdown orders may be needed to curb rising coronavirus cases, McClatchy News previously reported.
In China, officials have cut flights and closed schools in Beijing to try to contain a new spike in coronavirus cases, The Washington Post reports.
But governors in several states have said they won’t be issuing new statewide stay-home orders, citing economic damage from the first shutdowns.
We’re not rolling back,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, reported The Miami Herald. “You have to have society function. You have to be able to have a cohesive society. That’s the best way to be able to deal with the impacts of the virus.”
“I don’t know that anyone has the appetite for massive shutdowns again,” said Lisa Piercey, health secretary of Tennessee, Politico reported. She said she favors “a more laser focus” approach.
“Americans are on the move,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, according to the publication. “They can’t be tied down and they can’t be restrained. They don’t want the government telling them what to do.”
And Trump said in May that he will not call for new shutdowns if a second wave of coronavirus cases hits the United States, MSNBC reported.
“We are going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country,” Trump said, according to the network. “We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we’re not closing our country.”
Even if mayors and governors muster the political will to impose new stay-home orders, would anyone listen? Some health experts have doubts.
“We are starting to notice a lot of people across South Carolina are not doing the social distancing or not avoiding group gatherings and wearing masks in public the way, especially, that they were earlier on,” said Brannon Traxler, physician consultant for the South Carolina state health department, ABC News reported.
“They’re either just over it, or they’ve come to believe it’s a phony pandemic because their own personal grandmother hasn’t been affected yet,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Irvine, The Washington Post reported. “People just think this is a nothingburger. So they think the risk is exaggerated.”
(c)2020 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.)