Omicron Bows Out…for now
Figures don’t lie, though they sometimes break our hearts. In this case, covid cases are dropping sharply around the world. So are deaths, as the chart at the foot of the page shows.
Inexplicably, many news organizations use two-week averages, which are sluggish and report important changes too late—after when people can take interventions. As happens often, an abundance of caution leads to error.
What's Next?
Hard to say for sure, but the odds are a new variant or sub-variant will pop up in the fall or winter.
There was a kerfuffle about a new strain, omicron ba 2-12-1. It arrived just as cases were peaking, so it probably won’t cause a resurgence.
As viruses, including covid-19, evolve they tend to become milder. So it is possible it may return as a cold in the fall, rather than as a menace.
I’m wearing my mask through flu season anyway. Who wants to catch that?
Masking and Distancing Affect Other Respiratory Viruses
Friends of the blog at the prestigious journal Nature, report that many childhood viruses were suppressed during by covid-19 controls. As the populations abandons masks, they are back.
For instance, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which normally causes nasty colds and asthma in the winter, spiked this summer.
Influenza virus is lurking, but it is H3N2—which is covered by the current vaccine.
Monkeypox virus is spreading primarily through sexual transmission, so masks won’t help.
Procrastinator Saves Lost Hiker
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