Some have assumed the pandemic would steadily peter out, requiring a collective decision to declare “It’s over.” But there are signs that the future is likely more complicated than that. dwallacewells writes
A person is transferred onto a bus outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images More people are dying right now on a per capita basis in Hong Kong than have died in any country, save one, at any point in time, save one, during the entire two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has globally taken, all told, at least 15 million and possibly 20 million lives.
This experience is quite discordant with the state of COVID discourse in the United States, where CDC director Rochelle Walensky recently described the possibility of future surges, dismissively, as “annoying.” Even those who argue that we’re letting our guard down too quickly are primarily focused on preparing for the next wave and variant, not responding to the dying vestiges of the last ones.
Not that widespread exposure is a panacea. It is easy to forget now, but Anthony Fauci spent most of 2020 estimating that somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of Americans would have to be either infected or vaccinated to reach herd immunity. That dream — of total disappearance of the disease — is now a distant memory, of course.