10 Signs the Pandemic Is About to Get Much Worse

New Covid-19 infections are accelerating, portending a deadly fall and winter

Robert Roy Britt
Elemental
Published in
8 min readOct 19, 2020

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A teacher goes over new Covid-19 safety protocols with students in her class at Trinity High School on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020 in Weaverville, CA. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

The pace of new Covid-19 infections is accelerating at exactly the wrong moment in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, alarming scientists who envision a winter of coronavirus carnage — physical, mental, and economic — unlike anything we’ve seen so far. In America, daily new infections are surging, which could lead to an inevitable peak that will exceed the highs seen in the spring and summer, all exacerbated by the effects of colder weather.

“We face rapidly accelerating increase in Covid-19 cases across much of Europe, the USA, and many other countries across the world,” according to an October 14 open letter published in The Lancet journal and signed initially by about 80 of the top infectious-disease experts in the United States and around the world, and hundreds more since. “It is critical to act decisively and urgently.”

Most frustrating for infectious-disease experts: It all could have been prevented. “We…

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Robert Roy Britt
Robert Roy Britt

Written by Robert Roy Britt

Editor of Wise & Well on Medium + the Writer's Guide at writersguide.substack.com. Author of Make Sleep Your Superpower: amazon.com/dp/B0BJBYFQCB

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