There may be more to come and some estimate the 5th wave could be worse than the 4th.
How many waves of COVID-19 have we had so far and which one are we currently in? And does it really matter? As the pandemic drags on, (and on), it can be difficult to keep track of what’s what and to see a hopeful end.
At the time of this writing, the US and Canada are currently at varying points of their fourth wave. Both countries are on the downslope and seem to be coming out of this wave. Hopefully, if we’re at all lucky, it will prove to be the last very large wave of the virus to scour through the general public. But some say it won’t be.
It’s hard to say exactly what the future holds in 2022 for the coronavirus. Since this is a virus related to others we’ve encountered before but also entirely new, no one knows precisely how it may behave over the long term.
How much longer might we be dealing with all this? Here’s what we know so far.
The Next 6 Months
Back in mid-September 2021, Michelle Fay Cortez writing for Bloomberg.com warned Americans that the end of the pandemic would not be coming in mere months, as some are hoping. In fact, Cortez went so far as to say we should all brace ourselves for more of what we’ve already been through.
According to Cortez and her research, the next six months will be sure to bring us more of the same. This involves continued hills and valleys when it come to novel coronavirus infections. If a vaccine resistant strain makes a true appearance we could even be back at square one and have to do EVERYTHING all over again. Hopefully that won’t be the case.
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One thing seems to be for sure, however. Experts tend to agree that everyone on Earth will be touched by the virus one way or another before the pandemic is over.
As Cortez writes on Bloomberg.com, “The race between the waves of transmission that lead to new variants and the battle to get the globe inoculated won’t be over until the coronavirus has touched all of us.”
So, either you’ll have had the virus, or been fully vaccinated. Or both. Very unlucky people will get the virus more than once and some will die while still being fully vaccinated.
Waves in Previous Pandemics
Most documented pandemics in history have lasted about two to three years. They had somewhere between two and four waves of significant infection. Unfortunately for us, COVID-19 is taking its time and could be with us on a global scale for even longer.
So far, it’s proving to be the deadliest outbreak since the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, having taken the lives of millions of people.
It’s also a fact that it’s likely that the globe will never truly completely be rid of COVID-19.
Some Expect the 5th Wave to be Worse
Some experts even expect a fifth wave of the novel coronavirus to be worse in the US than what we’ve seen so far.
According to Chris Wilson writing for Time.com, with the holiday season easing in on us, Thanksgiving and Christmas could present further ideal opportunities for COVID-19 to fortify its spread.
Since millions of Americans remain unvaccinated and colder weather is forcing our activities indoors, the number of new cases of the coronavirus this winter could potentially sky rocket. The only silver lining is that this could push more people to accept the vaccine.
It’s difficult to say conclusively how many waves of COVID-19 the world and each country will face by the time the virus winds down its continuous tour. It’s likely with us for years to come. Get vaccinated to protect yourself and reduce spread.
photo credits: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
