According to World Health Organization (WHO) data, the
number of COVID-19 cases reached a new high yesterday. Whether or not that high
will be a peak or not remains to be seen but seems unlikely, given that the
number of cases has been trending upward.
What's more: The WHO, according to CNBC reporting, also says that most people in the world are still
susceptible to getting the virus. Many people might not have come into contact
with the virus yet. Despite what you may have heard or what scientists might suspect,
the contention that people who have already contracted the virus cannot get it
again has not been demonstrated conclusively. Public health experts stress that
we're still in uncharted territory here.
The WHO statement, given yesterday, could hardly have been
coincidental, given the reawakening of economic activity in recent weeks. The organization
appears to be playing its customary role of being the rain on the parade of
premature attempts to bring things back to normal on the part of governments.
"The biggest threat right now is complacency," said WHO Director-General Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In speaking about the United States, WHO officials seemed
particularly concerned about the recent mass gatherings of protestors against
the police shooting of the unarmed African American civilian, George Floyd, in
Minneapolis. The WHO people stressed that while they supported protests against
racism, the timing of these protests risks facilitating a coronavirus rebound.
According to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins
University, coronavirus disease rates have already been on the uptick since
Memorial Day last month.
Though President Trump cut ties with the WHO and pledged to
defund the organization, the WHO continues to collaborate with officials inside
the US. They say that they work closely with the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) as well as various academic institutions.
At this time, the WHO is stressing vigilance and active
surveillance. They say it's going to take a population knowledgeable and aware
of what's happening in the world with the coronavirus to keep the situation
from deteriorating.
