More
than 3.3 million people have gotten COVID in the US alone.
Rachel Feltman July 13, 2020
Wearing a
mask, washing your hands, and keeping your distance is more important now than
ever.
Stay-at-home orders and
mask mandates have finally helped to quell COVID-19 cases in the New York area.
But testing data shows that while NYC may have been the first pandemic hotspot
in the US, it certainly won’t be the last.
How bad
is COVID-19 in the US right now?
According to a case
tracker managed by Johns Hopkins University, more than 3.3 million people
have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in the United States so far.
Nearly 135,000 of those patients have died.
More troubling than the
case counts themselves is the fact that cases are climbing upward in large
chunks of the country. A huge outbreak that started in New York City in March
has been largely squashed thanks to measures like mask-wearing mandates and the
closures of theaters and bars. Cases are still rising in 39 states, as well as in Puerto
Rico, Washington, DC and in the US Virgin Islands. Researchers at the Harvard
Global Health Institute estimate that a mere 14 states are actually testing enough
people to recognize the depth of the problem.
On Sunday, Florida broke a record for the most COVID-19 cases reported
by any single state in a one-day period. At a total of 15,300 cases, Florida outranked the new case count for the entire European
continent by 16 patients. As the virus spreads, hospitalization and death rates continue to rise. Meanwhile, Disney World has reopened its gates.
Once case counts start to
spike, it takes weeks for hospitalizations and fatalities to follow suit.A
disease has to spread for a while in a community before enough people catch it
and unknowingly pass it around for some individuals to get seriously sick. But
there are already signs of ICU crowding and increased deaths in the country’s
newest hotspots, and things will only get worse.
“We do expect deaths to go
up,” Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary with the Health and Human Services
department, told ABC. “If you have more cases, more
hospitalizations, we do expect to see that over the next two or three weeks
before this turns around.”
Why is
COVID-19 still spreading?
In general, states that
have reopened bars, restaurants, and retail are seeing a bigger uptick in cases than states that have
encouraged people to stay home. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently pointed out to Five Thirty Eight that the behavior of
individuals also matters. While some states truly opened too quickly, he said,
others tried to slowly and responsibly reopen a few businesses—only for
citizens to throw caution, along with their social distancing practices and
masks, to the wind.
“Many of the citizenry
said, ‘You know, well, I’m either going to be locked down or I’m going to let
it all rip,’” Fauci said.
Cell phone data also suggests that more people
traveled for July 4 than for Memorial Day, which likely contributed to case
surges. Parties are a particularly dangerous activity when it comes to COVID
transmission. Private summer gatherings—as well as bars and clubs in reopened
states —have been traced to new COVID-19 clusters, particularly among
young people.
What can
I do to keep from getting or spreading COVID-19?
At the beginning of the
COVID pandemic, evidence was spotty on how best to prevent its spread. Now it’s
become clear that wearing
masks is key to lowering transmission and perhaps preventing deadly
cases. Public health experts resoundingly recommend wearing face coverings
whenever you leave the house or interact with people from outside your
household. Here’s our
latest guide to understanding how masks keep you and other people safe,
and instructions for making your own
mask at home—with or without a sewing machine.Social distancing is also
crucial. Maintaining a distance of six feet or more from people outside your
household drastically reduces your risk of transmitting COVID. Even if you stay
far away from people, it’s best to wear a mask and play it safe since neither
method is a complete guarantee against spreading the virus.
The third tool in the
anti-coronavirus trifecta is proper hand washing. If you wash your hands
thoroughly and frequently, wear a mask whenever going out, and keep your
distance from other people, your risk of catching or spreading COVID-19 is
basically nill. But any sloppiness makes your risk go up: Sitting in a bar full
of strangers is dangerous, even if you keep a mask on when you’re not sipping.
Going for a walk without your mask is still risky, even if you try to avoid all
passersby. Coming back inside and forgetting to wash your hands leaves you more
vulnerable than if you immediately gave them a good scrub.
How bad
is COVID-19 globally right now?
While some countries—New
Zealand in particular—have managed to crush COVID for now, cases are still rising
globally.
“Let me be blunt, too many
countries are headed in the wrong direction,” WHO Director General Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing on Monday. “The virus remains public
enemy number one.”
Tedros added that there
would “be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future,” and that he
expected the pandemic to get even worse before things improve.
The virus, which first
emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, has infected around 13 million people worldwide and killed more
than 569,000.
How do I
know if I have COVID-19?
Many people with COVID-19
have few symptoms, if any. So it’s important to wear a mask and practice social
distancing even if you feel fine. But even if you’re already being careful, you
should still look out for symptoms. According to the Centers for Disease Control, known
COVID-19 symptoms now include fever or chills, coughing, shortness of breath or
difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a sudden loss of
taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and
diarrhea. If you have an existing condition that causes some of these symptoms,
such as seasonal allergies or a gastrointestinal disorder, take note of what is
normal for you. If you suddenly begin to experience worse than average
symptoms, they may be due to COVID. The context of you and your household’s
behavior is also important: a bit of a cough after weeks of careful social
distancing is less worrisome than one developed just days after going out to a
restaurant.
If you find out that
someone you’ve recently been in close contact with has been diagnosed with
COVID-19, you should operate under the assumption that you have it.
What
should I do if I think I’ve been exposed to COVID-19?
If you have symptoms of
COVID or have recently been exposed to someone with COVID, you should get
tested. Confirming your infection will allow those who’ve come into close
contact with you to take necessary precautions. It will also help doctors keep
tab on your symptoms in case your illness starts to take a turn for the worse.
If you experience trouble
breathing, persistent chest pain or pressure, bluish lips or face, an unusual
level of confusion, or an inability to wake or stay awake, the CDC says to seek immediate medical attention.
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