By early August, data gathered from national wastewater testing suggested a new surge of Covid infections was upon us. That metric was reinforced by rising test positivity rates and a modest but observable increase in the number of Covid-related hospitalizations. In combination with the emergence of what epidemiologists are calling a “highly mutated” variant of the virus, New York State has reassumed a posture of “high alert,” with more states likely to follow suit.
With conspicuous alacrity, Covid’s reemergence was swiftly accompanied by the return of “the experts,” for whom humility in the face of unknowable circumstances is anathema and no precaution is too burdensome.
“I think, and I think everybody concurs, that this is very likely to be a neutralization antibody escape mutant, which means that will be harder for our bodies to protect us from infection with this variant,” computational biologist Bette Korber told CNN. For these experts, the logical — indeed, unavoidable — corollary to this assessment is that the sooner Americans restore mid-pandemic mitigation measures, the better.