Delta Dawn - part the fourth

It's baaaaaaaack. Take a gander at the latest CDC report. A Covid-δ sub-variant has emerged, VBM so far. And, contrary to some, Covid-δ is not of the 'trade virulence for transmission' type. In its day Covid-δ was a tad more virulent than Covid-19; which it followed (well, there were a few other variants, but none ever got much of a foothold). Might be an interesting winter. And the 'experts' are, once again, speculating a trifecta: Covid, flu, and RSV. We know that RSV is hitting little kiddies, and flu is doing a number in Chile. As the (allegedly) Chinese proverb says, "may you live in interesting times". That's not a positive.

In a possible warning sign for the US and other Northern Hemisphere countries, Chile's 2022 flu season started much earlier than usual and brought more hospitalizations than during the pandemic, but the effectiveness of the vaccine against hospitalization was estimated to be almost 50%, according to a new study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers look to the Southern Hemisphere when trying to forecast what the North American flu season might look like, and they've noted that the southern season has been particularly bad this year.

What we do know: the widely predicted bi-pandemic of flu/Covid never appeared the last two winters. The 'experts' chalked that up to the masking/distancing/vaccinating/stay-at-home regimens that were widely adopted. I've managed to avoid even a cold for the whole period. Knock on wood. Few have gotten the bi-valent Covid shot (earliest our MD can see us is the end of November; gulp), and I see lots of folks crowding into, and vewy, vewy few masks in, my local grocery store. Hmmm?

With Fauci nearly out the door, will anyone heed the lessons of Covids? Exponential growth starts with one case. China was lavished with attaBoys for its non-medicine approach to curbing Covid-19; (test, trace, isolate, lockdown) until Covid-ο showed up and blew that regime all to hell. And Xi continues to not vaccinate and to lockdown cities/regions, messing with the West's supply chain for goods.