Surprise: No Big COVID Surge This Winter

Why do I read this article and think that ABC and Good Morning America are totally bummed out that huge numbers of people were not getting COVID, not getting it bad, and not dying?

The winter COVID wave that wasn’t: Why the US didn’t see a surge

When the United States saw COVID-19 cases and deaths rise around this past Christmas and New Year’s, many Americans feared the country was in for a third winter wave.

But as quickly as both metrics went up, they also came down. Weekly cases and deaths in late winter 2022-23 are on par with what was seen in spring 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, the Biden administration issued a bleak warning that as many as 100 million Americans could be infected during a COVID-19 wave in the fall and winter.

However, as the third anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the virus to be a global pandemic approaches, it appears that the U.S. has survived its first winter without a massive COVID-19 surge.

Experts told ABC News that a combination of more immunity, better treatments, less severe infections and more people following mitigation measures likely played a role.

More immunity. From people having it prior, hence, natural immunity, especially since the vaccines really do not work that well? Almost no one is masking, almost no one is isolating or keeping their distance. People are back to shaking hands (which is a bummer, because the hands of many people are dirty).

Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said there is some inconsistency when comparing past winter surges to this winter because there was a lack of overall testing and a declined use of home tests this winter.

However, the lower number of hospitalizations and deaths is likely a good indication of a less severe season this year compared to previous years, he said.

This is a good thing, right? Why do I get the feeling that they wanted it to be a bad winter? Is it just from all that time of the media being happy that so many were getting sick and dying while Trump was president, so that they could Blame Trump and such? Or while Biden was president, so that the media could pimp the Leftist notion of telling people to Obey government?

During this most recent winter, an updated bivalent booster is also available, which — although only 16.2% of the population has received it — has likely offered at least some protection.

Last year, the CDC estimated that, as of May 2022, more than 94% of the U.S. population has COVID-19-induced antibodies either from past infection or vaccination.

In other words, boosters really didn’t make a difference. Interestingly, more people were dying when a majority were getting the vaccine and getting boosted, versus now when most didn’t bother. Really, at this point, almost no one is jabbed and no one is wearing masks (and half the people who voluntarily wear a masks wear it wrong): it’s either natural immunity or COVID wearing out. Or both.

The post Surprise: No Big COVID Surge This Winter appeared first on Pirate’s Cove.