The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Only Just Begun
Why every U.S. city and county should brace for severe outbreaks, a possible second wave, and even a resurgence of the coronavirus later this year and next
While the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the United States so far have occurred in a relative handful of large cities and other locales, experts say the steep rise in cases — the curve — will come to communities large and small across the country in coming days and weeks. Already some rural counties are seeing outbreaks.
For just about everyone else, it’s a matter of time.
And this may be just the first wave of a pandemic that could return in multiple seasons, all depending on whether it can be contained by physical distancing, a potential vaccine, or other preventive measures.
“This is an extraordinarily transmissible virus, and I think it’s more transmissible than we recognize,” says Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Mina has “little faith” in the accuracy or extent of Covid-19 testing so far. Between people who are sick but have not been tested and the unknown number of people carrying the disease without any symptoms and transmitting it, Mina and other…
