As kids head back to school and everyone heads indoors more often, people are torn over whether we should be concerned about a possible COVID-19 surge this fall and winter.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think because more people are vaccinated, that – and there’s immunity from people who’ve had the COVID,” said Marlaen Fisher of Framingham.
Dana Sallee, also of Framingham, added, “We’re just ready for the next round and looking to get a booster shot at this point.”
As for the experts, they say Massachusetts’ relatively high vaccination rate should help. And the state’s COVID-19 dashboard shows the 7-day average for case numbers starting to tick down.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
“But we cannot forget what this virus can do because this virus will continue to change, and it will be with us,” said Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett with Boston Medical Center.
Gergen Barnett says heading into the fall with a possible plateau of cases, or at least a slower rate of rising cases, is a great thing. But we still have a lot to learn about COVID and the waves of the variants associated with it.
“We do see in other places – such as the U.K. again – where the cases went down but then they came back up, and so now we’re coming down and cracking down on certain mitigation strategies for the country,” she said.
More COVID-19 Stories in Mass.
As scientists learn more about COVID-19 and the behavior of its mutations, Gergen Barnett says two things remain constant – COVID is likely here to stay, but vaccines should help prevent more serious outcomes.
"The more we let down our guard unfortunately, the more likelihood is that we will have other Deltas coming down the pike,” she said.
Experts say although our vaccination rate is relatively high here, every little bit helps – and it’s never too late to get vaccinated.
