'The infection has returned with a vengeance. It has spread and risks tipping out of control in some parts of your body,' says Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Back in the middle of May, I wrote an essay titled"If the United States were my patient," pondering what it would be like if the United States were a flesh-and-blood person who had gotten sick with an ongoing infection.
Seven weeks later, as we approach the patient's birthday -- July 4th -- I thought it would be a good time to check in and see how the patient's doing. It turns out the answer is: not well at all. In fact, with daily infection rates breaking records on many days during the last couple of weeks, we are arguably worse off today than at any point earlier in the pandemic.
Dr. Gupta on how to stay safe on the road 01:55But thanks in no small part to the alarming rise in cases, we may have hit a turning point this last week. Nearly two dozen states have paused or rolled back reopening efforts. The governors of a handful of holdout states -- including Texas, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Kansas-- issued mask mandates. Some in the GOP and the vice president have started donning a mask. Even President Trump recently said he's"all for masks.
Dr. Gupta explains the differences between mask types 01:26If we can get our patient to stick to these small steps -- these tried and true public health measures that have worked in places like South Korea -- the number of daily infections can be slowly cut down to manageable levels. And then we can start containment efforts, like contact tracing and isolating potentially infected people.
Make no mistake, the patient will feel worse in the coming days until the medicine begins to work, until the public health measures that are once again being put in place have a chance to do their job. And the patient might still require aggressive treatment in some places -- we may see certain areas of the country partially shut down again. In the spring, everyone made great personal and economic sacrifices in trying to flatten the curve.
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