There’s a big uptick in reported cases today, but it’s (pick one: somewhat, mostly, kinda-sorta) due to the echoes of the Juneteenth holiday. So, while it looks like we’re embarking on yet another wave of COVID cases, that’s not a certainty. Yet. This will be clearer tomorrow.
Data source for this and other graphs of new case counts: Calculated from The New York Times. (2021). Coronavirus (Covid-19) Data in the United States. Retrieved 6/26/2022, from https://github.com/nytimes/covid-19-data.” The NY Times U.S. tracking page may be found at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
FWIW, I’m in Ocean City MD this week. Near as I can tell, nobody under the age of 60 is wearing a mask in the grocery stores. I assume that’s becoming the norm in most places now.
I can’t quite get my mind around the fact that we really should no longer expect any end to this. Not with the high degree of “immune escape” of the most recent variants.
I just need to focus on the logic. There’s a lot of COVID-19 in circulation, neither vaccine nor prior infection provides significant protection against a new COVID infection, and virtually nobody is taking precautions. Once you absorb that, it doesn’t seem all that crazy that lots of infections but few hospitalizations and deaths is the new normal.
