As some countries are relaxing their lockdown–the restriction measure aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19—the fear of the pandemic’s second wave is resurging, given the rise in the number of new cases numerous places.

What is a Second Wave?

Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Griffith University, Australia, described the second wave as what happens once the curve declines after reaching its peak of COVID-19 infection, then the numbers of new infections rise again.

The peak is counted with the infection rate at three to ten percent of the population, referring to the data in Wuhan, the city in China where the outbreak emerged for the first time.

“The second wave usually hits up to 90 percent of those who were not exposed to the virus,” the expert told Indonesia’s daily Kompas last April.

However, there is no confirmed definition of the second wave. We can tell one wave is over when the infection can be controlled, and the number of cases falls significantly.

“I think it’s really important that to wrap around, that there really isn’t a national epidemic that this is playing out locally across the U.S. and it’s hard to give single labels like first wave or second wave to the nation at large,” Eli Rosenberg Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics – University at Albany, said in an expert panel held by Newswise on Thursday, June 25.

“I think to have a second wave means you’ve successfully fought a first wave. I think that’s the really important piece to – that’s my starting definition. And I think in some places like Seattle, like here in New York State, we are to a large extent on the other side of the mountain as it were — not fully there, I would say, but we’re really — we’ve made it very far on the other side of that mountain, and that was due to massive public health efforts. And so now if we saw a resurgence after being all the way on that other side of the mountain, you might say. Yeah, we’ll call that a second wave. And it probably happened some time from now. It would have to happen sometime from now,” Rosenberg added.

South Korea is Facing a Second Wave

On June 22, South Korea announced that it was in the middle of the pandemic’s second wave, citing that most of the new infections came from Seoul.

As cited in Reuters, the country’s Center for Disease Prevention Control (KCDC) reported 79 new COVID-19 cases on May 28, the highest since April 5, when the country recorded 81 new cases in a single day.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), cited the May’s holiday as the culprit behind the rise in the new COVID-19 infections, adding that the authority once predicted the second wave would fall in fall or winter.

“Our forecast turned out to be wrong. As long as people having close contact with others, we believe that infections will continue,” Jeong stated.

Due to its massive testing and contact tracing, South Korea’s effort to flatten the infection’s curve has drawn international praise.

The surge in the new cases — after reaching its peak in late February (900 a day) — made the government consider imposing a stricter social restriction if the infection rates stand at 30 cases a day for three respective days and hospitals’ rooms occupancy rate stands at 70 percent.

Starting next month, the country’s health authority will adopt a reservation system to limit the number of visitors to nursing homes and other facilities as the elderly population is prone to the virus’ infection.

As of Friday, June 26, South Korea has recorded 12,602 COVID-19 cases, with 282 deaths and 11,172 cases in recovery, Worldometer data showed.

China’s COVID-19 Case Count Rising Once Again

China has reported a surge in the new COVID-19 figures following the easing of its confinement measures. On June 14, the mainland reported 57 new numbers of COVID-19, the highest daily cases since April 13, the official data reported.

China’s capital Beijing had seen 227 new infections of COVID-19 in the last ten days as of June 23, ending its 56-day streak without new coronavirus cases.

The fresh outbreak was linked with imported salmon fish sold at a food market. However, experts said there was no evidence that food products can spread the virus.

“There is no evidence of infection via the digestive system through food consumption, including seafood products,” Feng Luzhao, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a press briefing cited in Bloomberg.

Beijing has closed 40 high-risk neighborhoods, canceled thousands of flights, and conducted tests on more than two million people a week since the new outbreak hit on June 11.

China has recorded 83,462 COVID-19 cases, with 78,439 cases in recovery and 4,634 deaths.

What About Other Countries?

On June 16, New Zealand ended its 24-day streak of no new COVID-19 by reporting two new coronavirus figures; both were imported cases from the UK.

As of Friday, June 16, New Zealand has reported 14 new COVID-19 figures, all have been isolated, and no community transmission has been reported so far, the country’s health minister said.

Japan is also likely to enter the pandemic’s second wave following the new 119 cases in the city of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka in the last ten days, breaking a nearly one month-streak of no coronavirus cases, the Straits Times reported.

On June 3, the Japanese authority discovered 34 new coronavirus cases in the capital Tokyo, the first time since May 14 when the new figures of COVID-19 reached more than 30.

Europe is preparing to deal with the second wave following the reopening of its economic activity and mass protests against the excesses of a police force that killed an unarmed African-American George Floyd in the U.S. state of Minneapolis on May 25.

European nations have begun to give medical workers a crash course on how to treat COVID-19 patients and are planning to retrain medics to avoid a lack of human resources in case of the second wave.

“We need a healthcare army,” said Maurizio Cecconi, president-elect of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

Italy, Spain, and France are among European countries that saw the highest numbers of COVID-19 infections in March and April. On June 24, two schools inf France’s capital Paris had been closed due to precautionary measures following the discovery of coronavirus illnesses.

L'articolo Fear of a COVID-19 Second Wave Increases as Countries Ease Restrictions proviene da InsideOver.

American President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma last week should have marked a new chapter, namely the post-pandemic chapter. The successful defeat of the “invisible enemy”, “the plague” or – of more recent vintage – “Kung Flu,” as the president has called the virus.

Infection Rates are Rising Again

However, while the president sought to declare the victory over a battle that was never won in the first place, the numbers of infections had reach worrisome highs again already. The virus has now returned with a vengeance, raging more violently than in the early weeks of the pandemic as the number of newly infected people reaches almost 40,000 a day.

What figures in previous weeks have been indicating across half of the 50 states, has now become a fact: the COVID-19 crisis is worsening again — dramatically. According to the Washington Post and the New York Times, Wednesday marked the highest number of daily new infections since the pandemic began. The Washington Post reported 38,173 new infections on Wednesday. The previous record of 34,203 cases was reported on April 25. The New York Times reported 36,975 cases on the same day, exceeding the April 24 peak of 36,739 cases.

South Hit Particularly Hard This Time Around

However, unlike during the first wave, the increase in infections is particularly noticeable in the south of the country. The states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, therefore, ordered travelers from several states in the south to be quarantined. The situation in metropolitan New York City and neighboring areas, meanwhile, has been brought under control in recent months with strict measures such as exit restrictions and business closures.

The steps in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut show how the coronavirus crisis in the United States has shifted regionally: For a long time, the state of New York and The Big Apple itself had been the epicenter of the pandemic. More than 30,000 people died. Now, it is primarily the states of Texas, Florida and California, for example, which are currently experiencing their highest infection rates since the outbreak of the virus. What has been feared from many sides, namely that all the relaxation of the corona restrictions could come back like a boomerang, has thus now occurred.

Testing is Increasing

Nonetheless, a second factor is responsible for the increase, which is the increase in tests being conducted across the nation. However, it’s worth assessing the testing details. Although the states are testing much more than at the beginning of the pandemic, there are still few tests compared to the extent of the outbreak in the country, despite the president’s claims. Other nations, such as Canada, for example, continue to perform about as many tests per one million people as the US. However, Canada has about ten times fewer infected people per million than its southern neighbor. Even more worrisome: Out of 100 test conducted in the US, five are positive. In comparison, out of 100 tests conducted in Germany, 0.7 are positive.

Critics continue to condemn Trump for the devastating effects of the crisis. He initially continue to negate the impact and the threat the virus posed while pressing for a quick return to normal for months, simply as a more prolonged shutdown further decreases his chances of reelection. It is an open secret that Trump has dropped the ball on the topic, and it is hard to imagine that he can overcome the tragedy of over 130,000 dead Americans.

Trump Glosses Over Virus, Returns to Economy

Accordingly — and this makes the president’s failures even more worrisome — the topic no longer seems to play a role for the president. Instead, he has been talking about the fact that the economy is strengthening again for weeks and that the people who succumbed to the virus did thus not die “in vain” – which is a surreal remark, even for Donald Trump.

The White House has given up the fight against the virus. Instead of saving lives, the administration is interested in saving Trump’s campaign. Instead of addressing the issue and taking responsibility for the disastrous crisis management, the president focuses on his political opponents, his “law and order” image, and dog-whistle politics — all to the detriment of the nation.

L'articolo The Second Wave is Here proviene da InsideOver.