Research released by the government Wednesday says the United States has a sharp fall of COVID-19 cases to look forward to by the end of July. “Teams of experts are projecting COVID-19’s toll on the U.S. will fall sharply by the end of July” reports the Associated Press.
But when it comes to the CDC, there is no such thing as good news without the bad news. “They also warn that a ‘substantial increase’ in hospitalizations and deaths is possible if unvaccinated people do not follow basic precautions such as wearing a mask or keeping their distance from others.”
In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paper were projections from six research groups that were assigned to predict the course of the epidemic depending on how vaccinations and behavior are between now and September.
“Mainly, it’s good news” reports the AP. How comforting. “Even under scenarios involving disappointing vaccination rates, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are expected to drop dramatically by the end of July and continue to fall afterward.”
“We are not out of the woods yet” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, “but we could be very close.” The most optimistic scenarios by the end of July show cases could drop below 50,000 hospitalizations to fewer than 1,000 and deaths from between 200 and 300. Currently, the CDC is reporting an average of 350,000 new cases each week, 35,000 hospitalizations and over 4,000 deaths.
