DETROIT – As we head into fall, health experts are growing increasingly concerned about the amount of “COVID fatigue” many Americans are feeling.
While many are impatient to move past the COVID-19 pandemic, with colder weather coming -- experts said the recommended precautions are more important than ever.
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Nearly two thirds of states in the U.S., including Michigan, have seen COVID-19 cases climb 10 percent or more in the past two weeks.
The next few months are expected to be critical.
“Now is not the time to be lax, so reinvigorate those infection control precautions,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Andrew Badley said.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is projecting a peak of 2,900 deaths per day this winter. Experts say that number could be far lower if 95 percent of people wore face masks in public.
“For the second time in my life I thought about my own mortality,” COVID-19 survivor Rick Jeddeloh said. “Will I still be here for my 11-year-old daughter?”
He survived, but he still sometimes is short of breath and he urges others to take coronavirus more seriously.