Friday, November 26, 2021

Covid Aftershocks

So once again there is a new Covid-19 variant, B.1.1.529, that has been detected in Southern Africa, and it has been described as “heavily mutated.” The good news about this, if there is any, is that it was detected early and therefore may be easier to contain.

The bad news is we don’t know much about it yet, so the markets are reacting negatively. As I write this, the stocks app on my cellphone is all red as investors scurry for safety.

If the first wave of Covid represented a major earthquake with Wuhan, China as its epicenter, the subsequent emergence of dangerous variants are the aftershocks that remind us that the terror could return, that we are not necessarily free of this scourge yet.

The problem, from a global perspective, is only a tiny proportion of the populations of the poorer parts of the world are vaccinated, giving the virus plenty of hosts to continue mutating and adapting to the vaccines deployed against it.

I’ve long assumed that humans will win this war, ultimately, but like in the final stages of any war, the enemy can still achieve major victories and inflict major damage before VC Day. (Victory over Covid)

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