Right now, we are at a manageable point in the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of new U.S. cases has significantly slowed since the first omicron surge. Although omicron’s BA.2 variants have increased cases, particularly in the Northeast, hospitalizations and deaths have declined or leveled off. Vaccination and prior infection by the earlier omicron surge seem to be protecting most Americans against severe illness.
As a result, some public health pundits are urging Americans to go back to “normal.” But in fact, we should focus broadly on prevention against future variants and airborne illness. Not battling hospital surges right now gives us space to think long term. This approach is all the more urgent because we cannot rely on individuals to test or isolate constantly and masking is decreasingly enforced, especially since federal officials are battling over the travel mask mandate.
We know future waves will threaten us all again. To prepare, we need to improve ventilation to make environments lower risk for COVID-19 and improve case tracking so we can detect surges early enough to stop them.
