The coronavirus pandemic doesn't seem to be getting any better, unfortunately. The pandemic has essentially had the world on lockdown as many practices social distancing with law enforcement handing out tickets in many places for those who violate these orders. Each day, researchers make new discoveries but the latest announcement from the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that coronavirus might end up being a seasonal illness.
"I think we have to assume this is like other respiratory viruses, and there will be a seasonality to it,” Dr. Robert Redfield told GMA. With the possibility of another outbreak, Redfield is urging the government to increase testing capacity now as well as taking more action, like contact tracing, in order to prepare for a second wave of cases.
"The CDC is science-based, data-driven, [so] until we see it, we don’t know for certain [there will be a resurgence],” Redfield said. “But it is critical that we plan that this virus is likely to follow a seasonality pattern similar to flu, and we’re going to have another battle with it upfront and aggressively next winter.”
Redfield detailed the "block and tackle, block and tackle" strategy that's being taken right now. "We are working hard to augment [public health tools] now so that as we get into the next season, we’ll be able to stay in high containment mode while we complement that with some continued mitigation strategies,” he said.