From early parts of the year until September, US hospitalizations continued to see record highs, including a weekly average of 100,000 in early September, primarily focused in the South and are still at levels unseen since the winter, which is before the widespread availability of vaccines.

New infections plateaued in the first half of September at 150,000 daily cases and has since declined to 100,000 daily, as summer ends, and fall begins.

However, more people are expected to die from the latest surge (possibly at 700,000, which is about the population in Washington, D.C.). At the moment, 1 out of 500 are dying due to the virus.

There is usually a sharp incline seen in the delta variant spread; for example, Alaska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maine, Alabama, and Indiana all saw a high spike and a quick decline. Experts say that this is likely due to the delta variant quickly wreaking havoc in the unvaccinated population before hitting a wall when it can no longer infect anyone else within that group.

At this point, health officials have accepted that the eradication of Covid is unlikely, and have decided to approach it in similar matters as we do of flu or other respiratory viruses.

The summer since Covid-19 has shown public health officials of what might come thereafter; ICU availability being low due to high infection and critical cases, multiple deaths in a family, As the sad stories of the unvaccinated who inevitably die get around to their communities, more people are choosing to get vaccinated.

Delta variant also was more dangerous to both the younger and the middle age generations, and encouraged people to consider vaccination.

However, flu season is indeed upon us, and the coupling of covid-19 with the flu could pose even more of a threat on an already taxed healthcare system in the U.S. this fall and winter.

Coree ILBO copyright (c) 2013-2021, All rights reserved.