WASHINGTON–Like every other consumer and business in the country, credit unions have their fingers crossed the coronavirus pandemic and the related economic shutdown will end before summer. But one doctor is cautioning that while “semi-normal life” may return by Memorial Day, there’s a solid risk a second wave of coronavirus may hit the country later in the year.
Dr. Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, who is in discussions with senior government officials daily, told POLITICO that getting the coronavirus COVID-19 behind the country is going to take longer than many anticipate
“I believe that we're going to return to a semi-normal life at the end of May — Memorial Day,” Orlowski said during an interview as part of POLITICO’s Women Rule podcast. “But the other thing that I would say is that we have to prepare ourselves to go through a similar exercise in the fall, in the late fall. If you take a look at the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, and if you take a look at how coronavirus is acting, this is not just the winter and spring of 2020. Probably late November, by December, we are going to go through this again.
Continuing to Prepare
Orlowski said the U.S. needs to continue to prepare because the number of cases will continue to rise until mid to late April with a sustained number of cases probably for approximately seven weeks after that.
Orlowski said in the future “We're going to look back on this and come to the fundamental conclusion that we were late in a number of things that we did.”
As for a vaccine, Orlowski said no vaccine is likely to be ready for at least six-to-eight months.
“We're going to do this again and we're going to be smarter and better at doing this. And so, let's start talking about how we make it through the next seven weeks. But then let's talk about how we're going to do it smarter, come the wintertime.”
The full story, including a link to the podcast, can be found here.