A few months ago, healthcare professionals warned that the second wave of 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is likely to happen soon. Factors that were speculated to contribute to the upsurge of COVID-19 cases include misinformation, failure to follow safety procedures, relaxed travel restrictions, and lockdowns being lifted among others. While there are some countries that have reported lower numbers and even no new infections, the United States appears to be an outlier. As Americans celebrated the Fourth of July weekend, experts already fear the worst.

While some festivities were cancelled due to the pandemic, others have opted to go virtual instead. These are evidently appropriate given that SARS-CoV-2 transmissions were reported to have gone up over time. Regrettably, despite the efforts of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to issue warnings and update guidelines, these were intentionally ignored by many people.

CNN notes that public health officials are worried that advisories were disregarded much like during the Memorial Day weekend a couple of months ago. With surging cases of COVID-19 already overwhelming the country's healthcare system, the likelihood of even more in the coming weeks might be beyond what it could properly handle. So far, reports claim that younger people are to blame for the rising spread of the virus across the nation.

Even though state and city leaders have issued warnings and reminders regarding social distancing and the use of protective equipment such as masks, crowds still gathered in record numbers especially in beaches to apparently beat the summer heat. Meanwhile, in other parts of the U.S., groups were observed to be continuing protests. Majority of the participants were supposedly not even wearing face coverings at all.

Thousands crowd a beach in UK
Thousands crowd the beach in the English coastal town of Bournemouth to soak up the sun on the hottest day of the year as lockdown measures are slowly eased -- but with officials still warning of another surge in COVID-19 cases. Photo: AFPTV / Glyn KIRK

In May, the civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in the hands of authorities in Minnesota, saw a record number of people protest against racial injustices. Some have turned into violent clashes between law enforcement and civilians with reports of looting, rioting, and other crimes. On Saturday, Florida recorded 11,458 new COVID-19 cases based on the data supplied by Johns Hopkins University. The state has surpassed New York's 11,434 on a single day.

COVID-19