Unfortunately, coronavirus case counts are rapidly increasing in many states that weren't meaningfully affected by the start of the first wave. The most affected regions are the South and Southwest. In total, case counts in the U.S. are now higher than they were during the previous peak in March and April.

One silver lining is that so far, hospitalizations and fatalities haven't risen as they did during March and April. One factor seems to be that the disease is hitting young people, rather than more vulnerable populations, who are the least likely to abide by social distancing guidelines and also have the most chance of exposure due to their jobs.

However, one worrisome sign is that many countries have had similar outbreaks like Italy and Iran which initially was confined to young people with low hospitalization rates. However, they were followed by the disease spreading to an older population with about a month's delay. Further, anecdotal reports that even among young people who get the disease and recover, there are many lingering effects on lung capacity and function.

LAKE

There are many secondary effects due to these developments. One is that the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) will continue to increase. Lakeland Industries (LAKE  ) will be one of the beneficiaries. They make many of the full-body suits and face shields that are worn by medical professionals when dealing with patients.

It's also clear that much of the spread is happening at doctor's offices and hospitals. During the initial phase of the outbreak, Lakeland's stock jumped by 150% in a little more than a week. From there, it gave back the bulk of these gains as many expected the increase in demand to be a temporary factor. However, LAKE's stock has started moving higher once again as it becomes clear that this is not a temporary matter.

The stock currently has a price to earnings ratio of 14. Its previous earnings report showed a 145% beat of revenue targets and 312% EPS beat. Despite this beat, analysts didn't significantly raise targets for the next quarter which contributed to the stock's decline. However, the surge in cases indicates that this was an incorrect assumption.

MMM

Another lesson from the latest surge in coronavirus cases is the efficacy of mask-wearing. 3M (MMM  ) is one of the largest manufacturers of N95 masks. Although it's difficult to get precise data, many believe that areas wear mask-wearing is mandated are seeing less severe outbreaks than areas where it is suggested but not mandatory.

Many countries in Asia and Europe have been successful in controlling the spread with less than a 100 cases per day, and there's full compliance with wearing masks. Governors of states like Georgia and Texas who didn't take the coronavirus seriously at first are now encouraging mask-wearing as the numbers get worse. Until herd immunity is reached or a vaccine is made and easily available, mask-wearing is going to be necessary.