The United States remained to have the highest number of COVID-19 infections and deaths worldwide. But how did the deadly virus quickly spreads across the country?

COVID-19 Patient
Reutersconnect

Data from the John Hopkins University Coronavirus Center revealed that there are now more than 9.2 million positive coronavirus cases and over 234,000 deaths in the U.S.

In a previous article of Latin Post, it was reported that one American dies every 107 seconds while another one tests positive every 1.2 seconds. This is very alarming for the country, especially that the winter is approaching, which could lead to more infections.

The country has been facing the virus for seven months, and it seems that there is no sign of slowing down.

A report from the NBC News claimed that the U.S. is in its third major rise in new cases. And this will continue even if a vaccine becomes available due to the hesitancy of many Americans on the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

While it is true that the country has had three dramatic cases increases, it was found that different regions and states played out differently in the COVID-19 cases to each wave. Even though states like New York and New Jersey are trying their best to avoid their second or third surge, North Dakota and Wisconsin are experiencing an abrupt increase for the first time.

The first surge of cases occurred during spring in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. They have reached their highest daily counts so far. After it, the state governors and local officials watched the trends carefully and reopened their economy slowly.

The state of New York has become an epicenter in the country of the virus this year. Health experts believed that the increase of cases during spring in the state is due to overcrowding and delayed public health response to mitigate COVID-19.

Stephen Kissler, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: "There were probably very few, very unlucky chains of transmission, where people really infected others and it sort of took off." He added that the difference of peak times is due to the different social behaviors and public health response in each state.

He also suggested that wearing of masks, strict observance of social distancing, and restriction of travel were already proven to keep the number of infections down. If there is uniformity across the state like a federal mask mandate that Dr. Anthony Fauci earlier suggested, the number of positive infections this winter can be controlled. A surge can also be avoided.

Meanwhile, states like Mexico, Arizona, and Texas were able to control the spread of the virus from mid-to-late summer. Experts said that this happened because of the warmer weather that drew people out of their house and at the same time they strictly followed social distancing.

It is also important to note that indoor spaces are more dangerous and there is a big chance for the spread of the virus through airborne transmission, according to the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and International Health at the University of Virginia.

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