Rainshine, you asked a good question about the future of the pandemic. I’m cautiously optimistic that by April we’ll be in a much better place. However, I do think that BA.2 – Omicron’s unruly sibling – will slow the decline of cases (already has in some locales, I suspect) and cause a ripple in March. But, I do not think a massive surge is coming. I just believe that March will still not be an easy month. Once BA.2 passes, I do think we’ll have `weathered’ the storm, so to speak.
That is wonderfully uplifting. Thank you
Joshua, do you believe that we will eventually close the books of this pandemic sometime this year? Will Covid-19 go into the books as an official two year pandemic (2020-2022)?
Yes. It will have passed into an endemic phase. Perhaps not as early as April, but soon thereafter. I like to define endemic quantitatively as having <100 daily deaths nationwide and fewer than 10,000 daily confirmed cases. I do think we'll be there by late spring. Could we have a rebound in late fall? Sure, but it will likely be a muted wave.
While I don't like to the looks of BA.2 and do think it'll prolong the epidemic for 4 to 6 weeks, I think that the coronavirus has run out of options. It can't get more transmissible than BA.2 (Omicron #2) and increased virulence doesn't help its cause.
Thanks Joshua for your thoughts. Still waiting for masks to become “optional” on public transit, and grocery stores as well.
That will happen at some point in spring. All caveats of course apply.
C-19 for 2-22 is ready.
Comments are closed.
Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Thanks TK.
Pretty much sums it up across the board
https://twitter.com/denise_dewald/status/1495509494335512583?s=21
Rainshine, you asked a good question about the future of the pandemic. I’m cautiously optimistic that by April we’ll be in a much better place. However, I do think that BA.2 – Omicron’s unruly sibling – will slow the decline of cases (already has in some locales, I suspect) and cause a ripple in March. But, I do not think a massive surge is coming. I just believe that March will still not be an easy month. Once BA.2 passes, I do think we’ll have `weathered’ the storm, so to speak.
That is wonderfully uplifting. Thank you
Joshua, do you believe that we will eventually close the books of this pandemic sometime this year? Will Covid-19 go into the books as an official two year pandemic (2020-2022)?
Yes. It will have passed into an endemic phase. Perhaps not as early as April, but soon thereafter. I like to define endemic quantitatively as having <100 daily deaths nationwide and fewer than 10,000 daily confirmed cases. I do think we'll be there by late spring. Could we have a rebound in late fall? Sure, but it will likely be a muted wave.
While I don't like to the looks of BA.2 and do think it'll prolong the epidemic for 4 to 6 weeks, I think that the coronavirus has run out of options. It can't get more transmissible than BA.2 (Omicron #2) and increased virulence doesn't help its cause.
Thanks Joshua for your thoughts. Still waiting for masks to become “optional” on public transit, and grocery stores as well.
That will happen at some point in spring. All caveats of course apply.
C-19 for 2-22 is ready.