Following Thanksgiving, coronavirus deaths and cases have been reaching new highs, specialists believe that COVID-19 surges are in the country’s future while people continue socializing.

Though these surges won’t take place right away, over the next couple of weeks cases resulting from Thanksgiving will start being reported.

“What everyone’s expecting is this week and next week, those cases from Thanksgiving will start to be reported,” explains Ellie Murray, an epidemiologist at Boston University. “Any hospitalizations that will result from that will be seen around mid-December, and then we’ll start to see people dying from the COVID they acquired around Thanksgiving by Christmas, the end of December.”

Families and friends that participated in high-risk activities are going to be the main problem. These get-togethers lead to more transmission causing a surge of COVID-19 predicted to happen soon.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s top health official, explains that Thanksgiving is the cause of these surges and that it is likely just the beginning.

“We know that those cases that occurred around people’s dinner tables, or activities, travel around Thanksgiving are going to show up right about now,” said Ghaly. “So we know this is the beginning, but we believe that the levels of transmission that we have seen so far are likely to continue going up some because of those activities around Thanksgiving.”

Following the experts, many are also concerned for the country’s future, explaining that it’s too risky at this time to be coming together.

“I feel that this year is a strange time and I know that family and friends still want to get together for the holidays but I personally think that it’s just not safe this year. I think you should Zoom together instead to protect your loved ones,” says sophomore Raegan Duhamel.

Numbers are reaching new highs as more cases are getting reported. More people are hospitalized than ever and the numbers are expected to keep rising.

“The U.S. reported 2,777 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday alone, according to an NBC News tally. The country registered nearly 205,000 new cases of COVID-19 on the same day, a figure that comes just a month after the U.S. single-day record topped 100,000 cases for the first time,” writes Tim Stelloh.

Cases and COVID-19 related deaths are spiking in the U.S and predicted to keep coming as surge upon surge follows the Thanksgiving holiday.