IU Health Expert Warns COVID-19 Will Linger Well Into 2021

(BLOOMINGTON) – Since March, COVID-19 has disrupted people’s lives in the United States and around the world. The virus has forced people to isolate from others, caused many businesses to close and prompted some schools to switch to remote learning across the country.

Dr. Aaron E. Carroll

While communities have eased restrictions, Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, director of surveillance and mitigation for Indiana University’s COVID-19 Medical Response Team, said many Americans have a misconception that life will return to normal next year.

Carroll writes in a New York Times opinion piece that Americans will need to continue taking precautions through much of 2021, regardless of when a vaccine arrives. “Until we see convincing evidence that a vaccine has a large population-level effect, we will still need to mask and distance and restrain ourselves,” he writes.