Is the winter COVID surge here?
A public school in New York City had to go fully remote. California and USC had to postpone a football game. New case rates in the U.S. are actually back on the rise, albeit slowly. All of that has experts warning that the pandemic is not over.
Scientists point to three factors:
- Winter means more people are socializing indoors.
- Vaccine efficacy is waning, especially for people who got their shots early on.
- People have pandemic fatigue and are being less vigilant about things like masks.
However, experts agree that things won't be as bad as last winter. Even with vaccine efficacy waning, protection is far better than last year when there basically wasn't any. And kids are starting to be immunized.
The U.S. has seen 46 million cases of COVID and 760,000 deaths from it. (NBC News)