CBS2 reports that Dr. David Pate, retired president and CEO of St. Luke Health System, believes a fourth wave of coronavirus is coming and we’re not prepared for it.
“The problem is many of our elected officials are being very reckless and irresponsible,” Dr. Pate told me in a Zoom interview. “They’re not telling the public the truth and they’re not role-modeling behavior. people need to know COVID-19 is still a threat and it may be more of a threat because of these variants.”
Dr. Pate believes a fourth wave of coronavirus is coming… based on several factors — including an increase in cases and in hospitalizations.
“If you look at this third wave in January, cases were coming down sharply, and that gave everyone false confidence, then they hit this plateau…and it’s way too high a level for transmissible diseases.”
“Let me tell you what I am concerned about is hospitalizations are going up. that’s really concerning because typically we see that later.”
And Europe has shown the UK variant seems to hits kids more aggressively than the previous virus, Pate says.
“Schools were contributing to community spread. The kids may be asymptomatic or mildly ill and they were bringing the virus home to their families. The age group I worry about today is 30 to 40, why? That’s the age group of the parents of these kids.”
Dr. Pate is encouraged by the vaccinations…and development of vaccines that may work for kids.
But the next few months will be critical he says — and we need to hold fast and continue to observe COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Written, interview, and posted by CBS2
