What the 5?

Dr. Eric Topol was on the PBS NewsHour last night to discuss the COVID pandemic in America.

I can count all of the pieces of good news he gave on one hand with fingers to spare.  But I can't remember any of them.

I can, however, remember the bad news he gave.  He said that BA.5, the latest variation of the Omicron COVID strain, is the worst strain yet - a COVID strain, like a Madonna record, is always worse and more unbearable than the one preceding it - and that it can re-infect people who have had their shots or have had the bug.  Americans who have been double-boosted - myself included - are far more immune to BA.5, but because the BA.5 bug is so contagious, infection levels are where they were in early 2021, with re-infections all too common. 

And what is the Centers for Disease Control doing about this?  Practically nothing. What are Americans doing to prevent getting sick?  Practically nothing.  So few people have gotten their first boosters - with few of them getting second boosters - that the United States now ranks 67th in the world in booster vaccine deliveries.  The only Americans who will be happy to hear that are Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.  And possibly Jim Jordan.

The director general of the World Health Organization said, "The pandemic won't be over anywhere until it's over everywhere."  What he meant to say was, "The pandemic won't be over everywhere until it's over in the United States." 😠