GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Labor Day weekend saw people across the state hitting the road to make their final summer trips of 2020.
Many gathered with friends and family, with a number of those activities outside. But that doesn’t ease much concern for those tracking COVID-19 in the state.
“This is our first real holiday weekend with a mask mandate. So I hope some of that is mitigated. On previous holidays, we’ve seen a small bump – in some cases a larger bump – depending on the area,” said Prevea Health CEO Dr. Ashok Rai. “Especially if it’s indoors and people aren’t masked appropriately, there’s always going to be at risk for an increase in numbers of positive cases. It’s not a guarantee though…We just hope that people by now we know how to keep themselves safe and do the right thing.”
Rai explained that there will be a heightened concern among health care officials until better preventative measures are made available. However, without evidence of exactly what people were doing – they can’t necessarily track any future bumps in numbers back to the activities this past weekend.
“It would be overreaching to say that we’re expecting a spike without really knowing what people’s behaviors were. Now, do you witness some of that? Yes. Do you hope that it was less than maybe it was over the 4th of July or Memorial Day? You would hope so,” Rai told WTAQ News. “If there’s one message after a weekend like this – is hopefully everybody the right thing going into it, but there’s still the possibility of viral spread so if you have symptoms, get tested.”
Rai maintains that distancing, masking, and tested are currently the best ways to combat the virus. Tests and clinical trials are underway on potential vaccines for SARS-CoV-2.
Comments