The Pandemic Blog

The title of a WaPo article this week says it all: “Unvaccinated Texans 40 times as likely to die of covid as those fully vaccinated in 2021, study says”. One would think that figures like this one (and they’re probably not too much different in most states. No matter where you live, your odds of dying of Covid are much higher if you’re not vaccinated) would make a lot of people realize what they’re doing to themselves, and make a lot of broadcasters realize they’re literally killing their fans. One would think.   Notice below that deaths aren’t declining now. Moreover, new cases are actually rising, and have been for three weeks. And now it looks like they’re rising again in the northern states, as – of course – people stay indoors more. Are we heading for a fifth wave, that will build through the holidays and hit full force in January – just like the third wave did? Of course, the third wave turned out to be the worst of the pandemic, and there’s no way a fifth wave will ...

The Times ran a very interesting story last week about the UK’s Covid situation. You probably remember that – like most countries – the UK has at times appeared to be doing well in the fight against the coronavirus, and at other times not. Last December, they approved vaccines for adults quicker than the rest of Europe (or I should just say “quicker than Europe”, since I don’t think they consider themselves part of their Continental neighbors anymore). After a big runup in infections in January and February (which coincided with the devastating fourth wave in the US), Covid cases dropped precipitously, as more and more of the adults were vaccinated. However, as often happens, it seems they learned their lesson too well. Three months ago, Boris Johnson declared “Freedom Day”, when pretty much all Covid restrictions were lifted. And with 80% of adults vaccinated and new cases at a low level, this seemed – at the time – to be not a terribly risky move (except to health professionals...