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Are we in a second COVID wave?
As coronavirus numbers across the nation rise, are we facing a second wave of infections or are we still riding the first wave?
NEW YORK - Coronavirus cases are on the rise in 47 states across the country, but are we actually entering a second wave?
Just this month alone, two dozen states are reporting a record number of daily cases, with Wisconsin reporting a shocking increase of 400% since September. Hospitals there say they are on track to run out of ICU beds in the coming weeks.
"We are still riding the first wave," said Wafaa El-Sadr, a Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University. "I think it's like riding a wave that has different peaks, we are going from one peak to the next peak, but we've never really come down."
So far, over 228,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus since the pandemic began.
"I think NYC for example is distinguished by having had the first wave in March and April, and then it was followed by a long period of time, week after week where we had very low numbers of cases. I think that's what people would say is more a distinguishing feature ofa wave. That you start low and end low," El-Sadr said.
However, that's not the case across the nation. According to El-Sadr, we have plateaued more than once, but the number of cases in the U.S. never came down significantly.