Although this is very serious, no one can ever predict how a fungal disease
originating in one climate will do in another. California has a VERY dry
summer with fairly low humidity. The entire US east of the Great Plains has
a summer with very high humidity and a lot of summer rainfall. This might
support the spread of the fungus, OR it might slow it down. Likewise, even
the central part of the south has more severe winter temperatures than most
of California, which only sees light frosts at best. And certainly the
mid-Atlantic and Northeast have much more severe winters. Again, this might
hinder the development of the fungus or slow its spread. I hope so, because
the oak forests of the East are a thing of glory. Of course, not that long
ago, those forests were more evenly comprised of elms, chestnuts, maples,
pines, and oaks, so the oak forests of today are not the forests that our
ancestors found there.