Southern states should be prepared for a possible surge of COVID-19 cases this summer, former White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx said Sunday.
Driving the news: Birx told CBS' "Face the Nation" she expects to see a wave of COVID-19 cases across the South this summer similar to ones during 2020 and 2021.
- "What has happened each time is we've had a summer surge across the South and a winter surge that starts in our Northern Plains and moves down, accelerated by Thanksgiving and the holidays," Birx said.
- "Each of these surges are about four to six months apart," she added. "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."
What she's saying: "We have to make it very clear to the American people that your protection against infection wanes," she added.
- "So if you're going to go see your grandmother, or someone that has metastatic breast cancer, or someone under treatment for Hodgkin's disease, or a family member with Down syndrome, you need to test before you go."