Top health officials and the mainstream media keep insisting that “the worst is behind us”, but is that actually true? According to Worldometers.info, 2,804 new coronavirus deaths were added to the U.S. total during the 24 hour period that just ended, and that was a huge increase over the 1,939 new deaths from the previous 24 hour period. In addition, we are seeing an alarming explosion in the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases in Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Peru, India, Brazil and Russia. So while it is true that the lockdowns have temporarily slowed down the spread of the virus in some areas of the globe, it appears that we are witnessing the emergence of a “second wave” in other areas. And of course the countries that have been successful in slowing down this pandemic could see another huge surge in cases once their lockdowns are ended. Sadly, the truth is that we are still in the early stages of this crisis, but most people don’t seem to realize that.

On Tuesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield made headlines all over the globe when he warned that there could be a “second wave” of COVID-19 next winter…

A second coronavirus outbreak could emerge this winter in conjunction with the flu season to make for an even more dire health crisis, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told The Washington Post in an interview. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a story published Tuesday. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”

But what if he is completely wrong and the “second wave” is already here?

Or perhaps it may be more accurate to say that the first wave has never ended.

If you go to the Johns Hopkins dashboard for this pandemic, you will notice that the global curve of confirmed cases has not “flattened” much at all even though much of the planet has been “locked down” for weeks.

And the antibody data is telling us that virtually the entire global population is still vulnerable. According to the WHO, only 2 to 3 percent of the entire global population has developed antibodies for this virus…

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday said that likely no more than 2% to 3% of the global population have developed antibodies for COVID-19.

Here in the United States, a study of adults in L.A. County found that only 4 percent of them had developed antibodies for this virus…

Four percent of adults in Los Angeles County tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in a recent study, suggesting hundreds of thousands of people might have actually been infected in early April when only 8,000 cases had been confirmed.

So what this means is that we are a long, long, long way from herd immunity.

More than 95 percent of the population is still vulnerable, and that means once the lockdowns are lifted this virus could start spreading like wildfire inside the U.S. once again.

In fact, the number of confirmed cases in Georgia is soaring just as that state is preparing to end the current restrictions…

The number of coronavirus deaths and infections in Georgia has spiked over a 24 hour period as the state prepares to partially lift lockdown restrictions this week – and cases across the country have doubled in two weeks to more than 200,000. The death toll in the state increased by 85 in 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 772. Infections spiked by more than 1,000, bringing the number of cases in the state to more than 19,300.

And in Massachusetts, authorities are warning that the death toll in that state will likely double “in less than a week”…

Massachusetts has quickly become a hot spot of coronavirus infections with the state’s death toll expected to double in less than a week. COVID-19 deaths are expected to surpass 2,000 this week in Massachusetts where officials are scrambling to boost hospital capacity and trace new infections to curb the spread of the disease.

That certainly doesn’t sound like “the worst is behind us” to me.

And I don’t even know what to make of this story from Philadelphia…

The horror of the coronavirus pandemic took an especially macabre turn on Sunday afternoon when a Ford pickup truck pulled up behind the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office with five or six bagged bodies stacked in its open cargo bed. The driver got out, spoke briefly to a medical examiner’s employee who seemed unnerved by the delivery, and then climbed onto the cargo bed, walking on bodies that initially had been covered by mats, according to an Inquirer photographer who was working near the site in University City.

Look, I understand that a lot of people out there are still mocking this pandemic and are absolutely convinced that it is a “nothingburger”.

One of those skeptics was 60-year-old John McDaniel…

On March 15, he seemingly commented on Ohio governor Mike DeWine’s stay-at home order, which required shops, bars and restaurants to close. “If what I’m hearing is true, that DeWine has ordered all bars and restaurants to be closed, I say bulls***!,” the post reads. “He doesn’t have that authority. If you are paranoid about getting sick just don’t go out. It shouldn’t keep those of us from living our lives.”

Now he is dead, and it was the virus that he mocked that killed him.

And even if you get this virus and survive, it can permanently scar your lungs and leave you with “breathing difficulties for months”.

So please don’t mock this virus, because if you get hit really hard by COVID-19 it will be one of the worst experiences of your life even if you live through it.

For those that believe that a vaccine will be the golden ticket that gets us out of this mess, I am afraid that you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. There has never been a successful vaccine developed for any coronavirus, and one leading expert is openly warning that it is possible that “we will never get a coronavirus vaccine”.

And if things weren’t already complicated enough, now a new study has discovered that there are “at least 30 different variations” of COVID-19.

A new study in China has found that the novel coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different variations. The results showed that medical officials have vastly underestimated the overall ability of the virus to mutate, in findings that different strains have affected different parts of the world, leading to potential difficulties in finding an overall cure.

So not only do scientists have to come up with a successful vaccine for a coronavirus for the first time in history, they also have to hope that they are targeting the correct strain.

Good luck with all that.

Unfortunately, the truth is that this pandemic is going to be with us for a long time to come, and what we have experienced so far is just the very beginning of our problems.

Even if all of the lockdowns around the world were kept in place for the foreseeable future, this virus would continue to spread.

And in the long run, approximately the same number of people are going to catch this virus and approximately the same number of people are going to die no matter what restrictions are instituted.

This pandemic is not going to be over until COVID-19 roars through most of the population and herd immunity is achieved, and the numbers are telling us that we are a long, long way from that point.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.