Covid-19 could kill 2,900 Americans a day in December, researchers say. Heres why, and how you can make fall and winter better – CNN

Health experts say colder weather, the flu season, reopened schools and pandemic fatigue are a recipe for the difficult months yet in the fight against coronavirus. Here’s why:

Colder weather: When more people gather indoors, there’s less opportunity for viral particles to disperse — increasing the risk of coronavirus spread.

“Aerosol means the droplets don’t drop immediately. They hang around for a period of time,” Fauci said.

This becomes “very relevant” when you are indoors and there is poor ventilation.

“You can certainly get both the flu and Covid-19 at the same time, which could be catastrophic to your immune system,” said Dr. Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine physician in Florida.

“Your defenses go down, and it makes you vulnerable to getting a second infection on top of that,” Yasmin said.

Outbreaks in schools and on college campuses: Many schools that brought students back to classrooms are suffering with outbreaks that could keep growing in the coming months.

And once students and teachers get infected, they can unknowingly spread the virus in their communities.

Athens-Clarke County, home to the University of Georgia, managed to keep its Covid-19 numbers relatively low throughout the summer but suffered a “dramatic spike” in cases in the community, Mayor Kelly Girtz said.

“Clearly, it’s the return to campus of large numbers of students who are not here through the summertime,” the mayor said.

Some universities have already canceled spring break due to Covid-19 concerns. Those include Syracuse University, Georgia Tech and Ohio State.

There are two main reasons for that projected surge, IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray said.

“First, as case counts have come down in some states, we tend to see that people become less careful, they tend to have more contact,” he said. “But then the most important effect is the seasonality of the virus — that people go indoors, transmission happens more.

“That’s why our model shows the huge surge that we really expect to take off in October and accelerate in November in December.”

How do we prevent this fall / winter surge?

Just because the pandemic is still here doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the fall and winter.

Stay outside if you can: Everyone should limit their interactions at indoor venues, said Dr. David Aronoff, director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

If you do have gatherings, invest in ways to keep them outdoors — perhaps with a fire pit, a warm coat or a heat lamp, said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician and visiting professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

If you visit friends or family, do it wisely: “We know by now that much of Covid-19’s spread is actually driven not by formal settings with strangers but by informal gatherings of family and friends,” Wen said. “Some individuals may be letting down their guard with loved ones.”

If you must travel for the holidays, cut out risky behavior before your trip, such as dining at restaurants indoors or getting in close contact with people you don’t live with.

“Because it is possible to get a negative result even when you have coronavirus, it is important to be careful even when you receive a negative result.”

And even if a negative test result is correct, you may have been infected since that test was taken.

Instead of Halloween parties or trick-or-treating, the CDC suggests carving pumpkins with your family or with friends and neighbors, at a safe distance.

You can also have virtual costume contests or a Halloween scavenger hunt, “where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance,” the CDC said.

For Thanksgiving, you can celebrate by having a virtual dinner with friends or family from afar and sharing your favorite Thanksgiving recipe, the CDC said.

You can also help loved ones who are at high risk for Covid-19 or those who are feeling isolated by preparing traditional Thanksgiving dishes “and delivering them in a way that doesn’t involve contact with others.”