Is China having a second wave of cases? Let’s put into perspective what that could mean for the U.S.

Ever since the stay-at-home order started, I’ve been counting down the days until I can go see a movie, eat at Salty Iguana and even go back to school — something I never thought I’d say. But there’s more we have to think about before anything can go back to normal.

If the national numbers keep getting worse, this stay-at-home order is not going to be over anytime soon, meaning we all need to strive to flatten the curve, carrying out all safety precautions. When that day does come, we need to make sure we’re taking all necessary steps to avoid a resurgence that China is currently seeing signs of right now. 

With businesses opening back up and less overall cases in China, it seemed as though the virus had run its course and the country would be adjusting back to normalcy. But those few people that still are infected, could possibly spread to the rest of society, resulting in a new wave of infected people and death. The U.S. needs to look at China and how they are handling this possible resurgence to take into account what that means for us. 

This idea can be shown from the Spanish Flu pandemic in the 1900s. The first wave most likely killed about 5 million people, but the second wave was much more deadly, killing around 20 million people. 

If we think things are bad now, they would only get exceedingly worse if the virus returned in a much stronger fashion.

Even now, when people are supposed to be staying at home, I still see people out with their friends and playing contact sports — completely disregarding the fact that they are endangering everyone around them. Especially when those people aren’t using proper protection like a mask or gloves, it is even more dangerous to their peers and people more likely to contract the virus due to particular auto-immune issues. 

It gives me chills to know that even when we think the virus will be gone, it is most likely still present, just waiting to spread again once society goes back to normal. 

According to CBS, a doctor at the Hong Kong School of Public Health has said that there will most likely be a cycle that emerges including a lockdown every three or four months, therefore elongating the timespan of trying to terminate the virus and its repercussions around the world. 

So for now, we need to stay inside and take the necessary precautions — because I don’t want to push the countdown to getting our lives back to normal any longer.