- This relative calm, occurring just as the holiday season approaches, means only one thing: an opportunity to leave the United States, to go overseas to that favourite tourist
- The lack of a clear and singular explanation for this uptick in cases has led to considerable speculation and handwringing.
- Europe is likely to get worse rather than better in the weeks ahead.
- There is a real possibility that whatever is driving the Western European increase will also mess things up in the US.
As the number of Covid-19 instances has decreased, a sense of normalcy has returned to huge parts of the United States as reported by CNN.
Holiday season
For many, this period of relative peace, which coincides with the holiday season, means just one thing: a chance to leave the United States and visit that favourite tourist spot — somewhere in Europe where there aren’t as many people.
Europe appears to be at the start of a fresh Covid-19 spike.
The CDC’s weekly list of places to “avoid travel” owing to illness risk includes nearly half of Europe’s countries, with Belgium, Slovakia, and Russia included only this week.
This vast region includes Russia, which has a population of roughly 750 million people, about twice that of the United States.
Which leads to two issues for holiday travellers: Is it really this severe, or is the CDC being overly cautious?
Is it going to become worse there, and, gulp, here, as well?
Latest surge
The latest surge’s causes are similar to those of the previous significant European surge in March: under-vaccination, lax enforcement of public health actions, and a general unwillingness to recognise the risk as serious.
Due to the lack of a clear and singular cause for the increase in instances, there has been a lot of discussion and hand-wringing.
Eastern and Central European countries, many of which were once part of the Iron Curtain, such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia, have some of the world’s lowest vaccination rates, which may explain the spike.
As the weather cools and everyone returns indoors, where social separation and fresh air are in short supply, a logical explanation to my view is that the same Delta strain is spreading among unvaccinated and unboosted persons.
The rise appears to be here to stay, at least for the time being.
In other words, Europe is more likely to deteriorate than improve in the next weeks.
Curve is flattening
When it comes to the other question of whether the Euro’s rise would herald a new global upswing, the answer is tricky.
Cases are increasing in a few states in the United States, as they have been for months.
The curve is flattening, to use a once-positive term in a negative way, but this time it represents a stalemate between the virus and humans, not the inspiring results of a hard-fought war to stop a pandemic from spreading.
Yes, perhaps this is merely a cold-weather stop, or perhaps some more folks require a boost, or perhaps the virus is doing something new that we have yet to notice.
However, based on what we now know, there is a significant probability that whatever is driving the Western European surge will also drive the increase in the United States.
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Source: CNN
