Although COVID-19 numbers are down, new variants and the approaching winter season have experts concerned.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 numbers have continuously dropped since August. Average daily cases are down to about 3,200 across the U.S.
Director of public and environmental health at Indiana University, Graham McKeen, said the upcoming winter season could cause numbers to rise again. He said there are three or four immune-evasive variants that are currently co-circulating and he is concerned the number of people getting vaccinated is so low.
“Uptake for these Bivalent boosters has been abysmal,” McKeen said. “It was in the single digits, at four percent, and the last time I check I think it was still in the single digits, and that does not bode well if we want to have a less disruptive winter.”
LISTEN TO: Covid-19 numbers could spike once again
Along with the rise of new variants are other viruses such as RSV and the seasonal flu. Director of the Center for Public Health Practice for IUPUI, Shandy Dearth, is worried about people getting multiple respiratory diseases at once.
“Some of the literature in the past has shown that we weren’t seeing a lot of co-infection, but when we did those cases were more severe,” Dearth said.
McKeen and Dearth both recommend that people get this year’s flu vaccine and Covid-19 boosters while they can.
