According to Axios, Germany is reporting the highest daily number of COVID-19 infections since the pandemic began. New cases across Europe have risen 55% in the past four weeks, according to WHO director Hans Kluge, who says “We are at another critical point of pandemic resurgence.”
The WHO says there have been 24,000 deaths and 1.8 million new infections in Europe in just the past week. But most of the serious cases and deaths have occurred in Baltic countries where vaccination rates are low.
However, Germany has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe and is still seeing record numbers of infections. The German government claims that it’s a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” which is probably true to some extent. But it doesn’t answer the question, what are we going to do about it?
The French solution is a familiar one. They have also seen a surge in virus infections and have decided that booster shots and masks will do the trick.
French epidemiologists have recently suggested widening the scope of the vaccine booster campaign to include new categories.
On Wednesday, the government said face masks would again be compulsory from next week for school children in 39 regional departments where infection rates are high.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, meanwhile, said the national incidence rate – the number of new infections per week per 100,000 inhabitants – was now well above the alert level of 50.
“This is not an explosion, but it requires the greatest vigilance. Now is not the time to let our guard down,” he said.
In the United States, the surge in 4th wave infections is ebbing, but another wave is expected in fall and winter, when people are supposedly more at risk because they’re indoors.
The question is now: What happens this fall and winter, when children are at school and Americans once again travel for the holidays? In spite of desperate warnings from the CDC that people stay home for last year’s holiday, they largely did not, which led to the third spike in cases, which reached heights that dwarfed the first two. That doesn’t bode well for Christmas 2021, especially given that, in this current, fourth wave, seven states have already surpassed their previous peaks in cases (with another four doing nearly as poorly):
Within the next several days, we may see a modest surge from travel over the Labor Day weekend, but the real test will come in about two months—still all too soon. The holidays always sneak up on us. Under one possibility, many millions of Americans may be bolstered by a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, though this will be scant protection for those who have yet to receive a first.
There’s already a surge in COVID cases in California, and intrepid Governor Gavin Newsom is on the job.
If you're out and about and notice a business isn't making sure their customers are in compliance with the mask mandate, you can call 3-1-1, and they will send one of our Health Ambassadors do a business check. pic.twitter.com/PTbAINUCex
— City of Santa Monica (@santamonicacity) November 4, 2021
Socialists do love their snitches.
It should be obvious to even the most hardened statist that the solutions offered by the government to “defeat” the coronavirus are ridiculous and futile. If we’re already talking about a “5th wave,” how long before we start looking forward to a 6th or 7th wave?
Meanwhile, thanks to the vaccines and new treatments for COVID patients, the incidences of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID have plummeted. The question becomes, how much longer do we allow the US government to dictate personal health decisions once the need for “emergency intervention” is long gone?
Tuesday’s election was about a lot of things, and COVID restrictions were right at the top of many people’s list of issues. The smart politicians will realize that and get out of the way.
Those that fail to heed the lesson will lose.
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