People don’t react to a wave they don’t see coming. In the North Eastern United States cases are once again beginning to rise this time because of the Stealth variant of Omicron called BA.2.
With 2 years of social distancing, masking, vaccination and hand washing you might think Americans would be ready to handle this next wave. However Americans are done with COVID-19. The vaccinated are done because the vaccines have indeed proven very effective at protecting against hospitalization and death. Getting the booster shot that is now being rolled out would also protect against infection the the upcoming months but not many are rushing out to get another booster.
With so many people now doing home tests instead of going to testing centers, it will be hard to see this new wave coming. I track hospitalizations as opposed of cases and thankfully they are relatively low after the huge spike in January of 2022. More Americans died from the Omicron that from the far more deadly Delta variant. Though less virulent, Omicron is so contagious that the incredible numbers of people infected still result in deaths.
England is experiencing the highest level of infections since the start of the pandemic and it is safe to say that America will experience a similar spike in the coming weeks. We are in the eye of the hurricane.
There’s no consensus among experts on exactly when waves begin or end, or how sharp or tall one must be to count. A wave will involve a sudden rise in cases form a baseline low. We are in that low right now. We are lucky in that cases are so low as BA.2 is taking over. With exponential growth the cases seem low for some time and then suddenly rise at alarming rates. No one can say for sure how alarming the next wave will be.
The fact is however that Americans have lifted most all restrictions and are going about life as normal as the tsunami wave quickly rushed towards the shore.