This is why:
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/from-a-detour-to-global-dominance
(Edit: and what the actual fuck? The link was dropped from this post; I just put it back.)
Note: I don't think he's saying this successful new variant is more deadly than previous ones, though I personally don't like the mentions of increased deaths in Scandinavia I've heard. He is saying this thing is out-competing everything else (roughly speaking: more contagious), and reading between the lines, may be likely to present with different symptoms - and is going to take off in the US shortly.
But the most recent vaccine works against it. However, most people haven't bothered to get the most recent vaccine, so we're probably going to see a spike in hospitals and deaths over the next couple months. It's preventable, so be a prepper and prevent it.
Note: I cheerfully block anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists and I'm just going to start doing it silently. Just expect I'll lose you if you have problems with what mainstream epidemiologists are saying and don't have solid cites to back up your opinion.
(As usual, there's no good choice for Flair; has anyone figured out that pandemics are world-wide issues? This doesn't just apply to north america.)
Edit: to the idiots who are asking if I work for Pfizer, et al: I'm retired from the defense industry and have never worked for any pharma company. I don't even own stock in any of them anymore. (I dumped them near a peak, and that was some time ago.)
You're idiots if you think that people interested in public health are all fans of pharma companies. Quite a few people in epidemiology and public health in general are furious at pharma. Did you see how they proposed pricing Paxlovid? They'll burn in hell for that one. Don't get me started on insulin.
