Top researcher: Current virus surge could sustain itself for another six weeks

A top U.S. infectious disease expert said on Sunday that a surge in the COVID-19 virus could sustain itself for at least another four to six weeks if certain states continue to see cases increase.

Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told on NBC’s “Meet the Press” how much longer the current surge of COVID-19 cases would last.

“If you look at the state of Louisiana right now, they’re tied with the country of Georgia for the highest rate of infections in the world. But what we’re seeing happen right now is while those states are starting to potentially level off a bit, we’re now seeing in the Southeast: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Illinois, all start to take off,” Osterholm said. 

“We’re seeing in the northwest in states like Oregon and Washington. We’re even seeing in the Midwest increases. So, even if this increase that we’re seeing in the southern Sun Belt states, which has been dramatic — we’re at 83,000 hospitalizations today. A month ago, we were at about 25,000. So, it gives you a sense of what’s happened just in the last month.  And if these other states take off, then I think this surge can sustain itself for at least another four to six weeks,” he continued. 

The surge comes as the delta variant makes its way among unvaccinated communities in the U.S. 

The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Sunday that he would not be surprised if the country started seeing at least 200,000 daily COVID-19 cases within the next several weeks.