re: #203 Eclectic Cyborg

Also, the important thing is not the case rates.

Are hospitalizations surging? Are deaths surging? Probably not because a lot of these folks are VACCINATED.

That said, this winter is going to be a real measuring stick of how much progress we’ve actually made in this pandemic.

Case rates have never been the ideal metric because so many cases have never been officially counted. But hospitalizations and deaths tell the real story. And let’s not forget these numbers can also reflect new variants that are more contagious or lethal or not controlled by the current vaccines. The flu vaccine requires new formulations annually; this may also turn out to be true for the coronavirus (yes, I know, it doesn’t mutate as fast as the flu — but it does mutate).