The World Health Organization warned on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic is still expanding in many countries, even as numbers decline across Europe and Asia. The agency's executive director of emergencies, Dr. Mike Ryan, highlighted during the W.H.O.'s press conference in Geneva that the Americas have been hit especially hard with surging outbreaks. On Friday, Brazil overtook the United Kingdom for the second most confirmed deaths in the world at above 41,000, just under the United States at around 116,000.
We are concerned that we are still very much on the upswing of this pandemic in many countries, particularly in the global south," Ryan stated. "We are concerned that some countries are having difficulties in exiting the so-called lockdowns as they're seeing increase of cases again."
In the United States, cases have begun to rise again, posting an alarming reassurance of the first wave of the pandemic in some parts of the country. Various states including Texas and Arizona have recorded numbers of hospitalizations this week that exceed levels seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced on Friday that the West coast state will be pausing its phased reopening plan in order to "assess what factors are driving the spread of the virus."
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 response director Jay Butler warned that if cases in parts of the country begin to increase rapidly, "more extensive mitigation efforts such as what were implemented back in March may be needed again, [but] that is a decision that really need to be made locally based on what is happening within the community."
Butler made this comment during the agency's first press briefing in months, as the C.D.C. released its guidance on how to reduce risk of coronavirus infection while returning to normal activities. In addition, the agency also released another set of guidelines for organizing and attending large gathers like concerts, sporting events and protests. The new guidelines mainly repeat earlier advice like wearing facial coverings in public and practicing social distancing, as well as limiting physical contact as much as possible no matter the situation.
Total Global Cases: Over 7.73 Million
Total Deaths: Over 428,000
Total Recovered: Over 3.92 Million
Mask Study
According to a new study published in PNAS, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, mask wearing is more important for preventing the spread of the coronavirus than social distancing and stay-at-home orders.
The study analyzed infection trends in northern Italy and New York City, two large epicenters of the virus, both before and after mask wearing rules were implemented. Mask protocols were implemented on April 6 in Italy and April 17 in New York City. The researchers noted that social contact precautions like distancing, quarantine, and increased hand washing were already in affect before the mark order.
"This protective measure alone significantly reduced the number of infections, that is, by over 78,000 in Italy from April 6 to May 9 and over 66,000 in New York City from April 17 to May 9," researchers concluded. The study added that while social contact restrictions help to minimize the virus's spread, facial covers help prevent airborne transmission.
