The warnings come the same week Texas and Mississippi flung open the doors to normal social life in their states.
Coronavirus cases have declined across much of the United States since mid-January, a point when the peak of the third wave saw upwards of 4,000 Covid-19 deaths a day.
However, cases remain “extremely high” according to data watchers, and could plateau at a point equivalent to the peak of summer 2020.
The potential plateau, highly transmissible new variants, and decision to reopen when vaccines have reached relatively few people “has all the makings of a fourth wave, and gives me a lot of pause for concern,” said Hotez.
On Wednesday, following a crippling winter ice storm Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, ended all pandemic restrictions and opened the state “100%”.
The Republican governor of Mississippi soon followed suit, and lifted mask mandates on all activities except schools and large arenas.
Nevertheless, intense pressure to reopen businesses has also led many Democratic-led cities and states to begin tiptoeing toward reopening. »
