What's Next?

Should we thank Omicron? Were serious illness and death so comparatively uncommon that they were offset by the increased immunity conferred? No, and hell no.

Cases dwarfed their peak in Jan. 2021, hobbling the economy. Hospitalizations topped their peak during the same month. Deaths exceeded all of their previous highs except last January's (didn't really get close). And the "natural immunity" conferred? Good luck relying on that shit. Who knows how long it will last and if any immunity, natural or injected, is going to shield us any against Pi or whatever they're going to call the next variant. Omicron was worrisome because it had mutated some ability to avoid the vaccines. In O's case Mother Nature birthed a beenstalk, tall but skinny and weak. She is going to have more offspring. Who wants to bet she'll continue to produce handicaps? Are we doing anything to protect against the next one? If we are, what is that? Are we developing vaccines effective against all coronaviruses, not just COVID-19? If we're not, why not? How many times are we going to get caught with our pants down? How many fucking years is this plague going to impact us like this? We better be doing something.