Many doctors are doubling down on pleas for Americans to get vaccinated — especially as the flu season could lead to simultaneous infections of the Delta variant and the flu.
And that could be disastrous, not just for a person’s immune system, but also for overwhelmed hospitals.
“We’ve been too complacent about the spread of respiratory diseases in the wintertime,” former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.
“With a twin threat of flu and Covid circulating, we’re not going to be able to enjoy that complacency anymore,” he said. “I think we’re going to have to readjust how we live our lives.”
He said that could include optional mask-wearing in the winter or improved air filtration in schools and workplaces.
There may be good news on the horizon, though. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published its ensemble forecast [September 29] saying new Covid-19 deaths are likely to decrease over the next four weeks.
[A recent] forecast, published September 22, predicted up to 736,000 Covid-19 deaths reported by October 16. [The September 29] forecast projects that there will be a total of 724,000 to 753,000 Covid-19 deaths reported by October 23.
