美国流行病学家认为，美国当前处于应对新冠肺炎疫情的“新阶段”，疫情正在“极其广泛地蔓延”。专家警告说，美国冬季可能遭遇流感和新冠病毒“双重”暴发。

 

Public health experts, researchers and manufacturers warn the coming flu season could bring a "double-barrel" respiratory disease outbreak in the United States, just as fall and winter are expected to exacerbate¹ the spread of Covid-19.

 

At the same time, researchers said the strategies currently used to prevent Covid-19 transmission - namely, hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing - could also help lessen² flu outbreaks, if Americans are willing to practice them.

 

"We will be faced with basically a double-barrel respiratory virus season, both influenza³ and Covid," said Dr William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee.

 

Flu season typically peaks between December and February in the northern hemisphere. It caused an estimated 61,000 deaths and 810,000 hospitalizations in 2019 in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

By comparison, Covid-19 has killed more than 166,000 people in the US with months to go before the end of the year, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. The disease hospitalized an estimated 293,000 people just between March and May 2020, according to the healthcare consulting firm Avalere. Those deaths and infections also occurred despite huge efforts – such as shutting down large parts of the US economy – being put into action to slow the virus’s path.

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