… the Delta surge has just begun. Based on what we’ve seen elsewhere [notably India], we can expect it to rapidly accelerate and wash over the country fairly quickly.
The author does not, of course, intend that to be reassuring to Americans, but it is. I certainly have no idea at precisely what level Delta is going to peak in the U.S., deaths peaked at about 3.5k/day in mid-June 2020, but Delta deaths are not going to reach that level. Not from this level:
The author says "the Delta surge [in the U.S.] has just begun." But it has begun! We're not waiting on it to come ashore, it's here, we have the outer bands right now. Deaths didn't start rising, per that graph snippet, until July 22 (that's through July 24). And it has begun among the Stephen Harmons. Vaccine hesitancy and refusal [is the] problem, not the variant." God-fearing Christian though Stephen was, I am not writhing in empathetic agony over his passing!
This article is reassuring because we do know from India that Delta infections, hospitalizations, and deaths wash over a population in a sudden storm and then speedily move on. To reasonable idiot sureness, this is not panic time.
