A New COVID-19 Surge Could Be Coming In Arizona

February 18, 2021

Coronavirus cases have decreased as more people are getting vaccinated; however, many professionals believe we could potentially face a new surge of cases. An article titled "Arizona Doctors Warn Another COVID-19 Surge Could Be Coming" by AZ Family reports that doctors from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona believe another surge could be coming.

Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group said, "We are looking at variant viruses that, in fact, combined aspects of increased lethality and increased transmissibility, almost certainly will drive a new and likely worse surge, depending upon how successful we are in this race,". He believes vaccinating quickly and wearing masks will provide better results.

According to the article, The Arizona Department of Health said it has identified five samples of the so-called U.K. COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.7. Doctors say new variants could push Arizona back in the wrong direction and Dr. Poland says keeping new variants away might be impossible, but detecting new strains may help researchers know how they affect us.

Lab workers are working diligently to find what type of strain a person has, but Arizona's largest COVID testing site says this is an expensive task. The FDA warns variants may lead to inconsistent COVID-19 test results, so the testing process for different strains gets more difficult than ever.

For more information, make sure you check out the full article here: Arizona Doctors Warn Another COVID-19 Surge Could Be Coming.