Too Early To Predict If Colorado Will See Second Wave Of Coronavirus Cases
DENVER (CBS4) - As business slowly gets back to normal, concerns are growing over what could happen if there is a possible second wave of new coronavirus cases.
Already cities such as Seoul in Korea and Wuhan in China have seen a rise in the number of coronavirus cases since re-opening after lockdown, but without a vaccine, virus cases could once again climb. Those in the medical community are worried there may be a resurgence that builds into the next cold and flu season. That would put an additional strain on resources.
Of course, even those on the front lines in health care know things have to re-open. CBS4 talked with Dr. John Hammer, an infectious disease specialist at Rose Medical Center. He tells us the hospital has been taking in COVID-19 patients since cases started appearing in Colorado. At its peak the hospital was taking in 5-10 positive patients a day, but he says, the average is now about 1 a day.
"I am hopeful. I think that we are doing it slowly, we are in a place at least in this state where other states aren't with respect to at least having flattened the curve at the time that we're starting to open the society up. As long as we closely monitor the flow of patients, new cases," Hammer said.
Hammer thought it's too early to predict if there would be, or when there could be a potential second wave.
"As long as we ramp up testing, contact tracing, with effective isolation quarantine procedures, we should be continue to be in a good place."
And as people become more active he said it's important to follow guidelines in place such as wearing a face mask inside of closed space as well as maintaining physical distances to prevent the spread of disease.
"And we have seen that those countries have implemented aggressive testing and contact isolation and then ongoing isolation and quarantine programs were successful in controlling the virus and maintaining control of the virus."
Besides the possibility of a second wave, Dr. Hammer said the medical community is looking to see if the virus will mutate, but he emphasized he has not seen any conclusive study or evidence to suggest that is occurring.
