To fight a possible second wave, he said we'll need an increase of flu vaccines nationwide and an investment in state and local health departments.
Dr. Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned in a Tuesday interview that while he felt U.S. states were ready to reopen, they'd also need to expand testing and contact tracing capabilities in order to fight a potential second wave of COVID-19 which could hit in fall, right around the nation's annual flu season.
"Ultimately, that number [of contact tracers] is going to be decided by the efforts that we have with the local health departments," Redfield said in a discussion with the political newspaper,."But that's ongoing now, and it needs to be in place, operationally ready by October of this year." Meanwhile, Iowa, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Washington and West Virginia have decided to use their National Guard forces to help, and Massachusetts and Ohio have both partnered with the international health nonprofit, Partners in Health, to assist them.
Redfield said in the interview that the federal government will likely need to invest anywhere from an additional $3 trillion to $6 trillion into local preparations to help combat a potential second wave of the virus which could come during the fall flu season.
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