Noon Edition airs on Fridays at noon on WFIU.

COVID-19 numbers have been on a downward trend but concerns of another winter spike and new variants still lurk.   

Pandemic numbers have been down since the last mini spike back in July. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in July of this year new cases were as high as over 185,000 and the moving average number of cases over seven days was about 130,000. New cases have dropped to just over 13,000 and the moving average number of cases over seven days has also dropped to just over 35,000.   

Despite this drop from the last mini spike, many are concerned how the numbers will increase once the winter months hit. In the months of November through January of both 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 cases had their largest spikes. Furthermore, threats of new variants called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have experts very concerned. White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci described these new variants as “troublesome” according to CNBC because of how quickly they have spread.  

Other concerns with this variant are the possibility that current vaccines will not be effective. Fauci said he’s concerned that if this new variant were to spread throughout the U.S., cases will spike rapidly and hospitals will overflow with patients again. The total U.S. number of cases is currently at over 96.7 million and the total deaths is over 1 million, according to the CDC.   

We will talk with our guests Friday about COVID-19 numbers, what Indiana residents should know, and what concerns experts have.   

You can follow us on Twitter at @NoonEdition or join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show at news@indianapublicmedia.org.

Guests

Graham McKeen - Director of Public and Environmental Health at Indiana University

Shandy Dearth - Director of the Center for Public Health Practice for IUPUI  

Dr. Thomas Duszynski - Professor and Director of Epidemiology Education at Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health