The coronavirus outbreak will continue into the fall and winter, combining with the annual flu season this year, too. So, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, your daily routines may soon change to deal with the dual-threat.
Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CNN this week that the twin threats may make life difficult for some people this winter.
- “I think the twin threats of this pathogen and the flu circulating every winter, as coronaviruses settle into a more seasonal pattern, is going to be too much for society to bear,” Gottlieb said. “I think we’re going to have to readjust how we live our lives.”
Gottlieb said people should take mitigation efforts like wearing masks indoors, social distancing and more to stay safe. It would also require people to become vaccinated against COVID-19 if they are not already.
- “We’ve been too complacent about the spread of respiratory diseases in the wintertime,” he told CNN. With a twin threat of flu and COVID circulating, we’re not going to be able to enjoy that complacency anymore.”
Doctors have been concerned about what might happen in the upcoming fall and winter seasons with COVID-19 and the flu. Last year, there was a record low in the number of flu cases since most were wearing masks and social distancing from others, limiting the spread of any flu strains, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
But in 2021, those social distancing guidelines and mask rules are limited, allowing people to interact without much protection from each other.
- “This year, however, we are heading into the flu season with more relaxed restrictions and the situation will allow for increased chance of respiratory illness transmissions,” Dr. TingTing Wong, an infectious disease specialist in New York, told Fox News. “We saw a similar uptick of ‘summer colds’ caused by other viruses (for example RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, and rhino viruses, etc.) this summer as restrictions relaxed and the fear is a similar uptick of flu cases this fall/winter season.”
- “Bottom line, please get the flu vaccine early!” Wong said.