The US should prepare for a predictable Southern summer surge of Covid-19, Birx says

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN

The US should prepare for a possible summer surge of Covid-19 cases across Southern states, former White House Coronavirus Response Task Force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx told CBS on Sunday morning.

It’s now predictable that the South will see surges in the summer and Northern states will see surges in the winter — especially around the holidays, Birx said.

Birx said she closely follows data out of South Africa, which has recently seen a rise in new Covid-19 cases.

“Each of these surges are about four to six months apart. That tells me that natural immunity wanes enough in the general population after four to six months — that a significant surge is going to occur again,” Birx told “Face the Nation.”

“This is what we have to be prepared for in this country. We should be preparing right now for a potential surge in the summer across the Southern United States because we saw it in 2020 and we saw it in 2021.”

Public health officials need to make clear to the public that protection against the infection wanes over time, and precautions should be taken with vulnerable or compromised people, said Birx.

She said Covid-19 home testing kits and booster shots are critical tools to help Americans handle surges.

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