Public health experts warn of exponential coronavirus growth, sustained pandemic
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Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Sunday warned that some states in the South could soon experience exponential growth of coronavirus infections.
As things stand, he said, states like Florida and Texas are reporting ample hospital capacity, but as previously shown by New York, that can change quickly, and health-care systems could soon be overwhelmed. "Everything looks okay until suddenly it doesn't," he said.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the rise in cases has led him to believe the United States won't face waves of COVID-19, like many public health experts initially thought. Instead, he views the pandemic as a "forest fire" that won't slow down in the summer after all. "Wherever there's wood to burn, this fire's gonna burn," he said. Tim O'Donnell
The Week
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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