March 11th marked four years since the World Health Organization declared the “novel coronavirus” to be a world-wide pandemic. We’ll have future stories on this history and the lessons learned, or not learned, from the past four years, but for now, here is a current status report.
It’s been four years, and yet, still more than a thousand people a week in the U.S. are dying of the disease (2% of all deaths), (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home). The vast majority of these deaths are from the 65 million people who are either 65 and older, or those whose immune system is compromised. And among those surviving their experiences with covid-19 and vaccinations, there are at least 17 million Americans who suffer from “Long Covid”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/long-covid-symptoms-cdc
There now is a predictable pattern of increased disease during the typical winter, when people spend more time indoors (and we STILL don’t have enough improved fresh air ventilation to make a noticeable dent in the spread of airborne pathogens). People who choose to reduce their risk of another covid-19 infection continue to have good tools available (see Jan. 25, 2024 blog post).
And on the positive side, we can look forward to reduced levels of the virus in circulation, and reduced protective measures needed, starting as soon as the next few weeks.
We still have ongoing good sampling of wastewater for monitoring the levels of covid-19 and other viruses. In New Hampshire, the graphs for Keene (brown) and Manchester (blue) show that we were at a low level last spring and summer from April through July (below the red line). So maybe only a few more weeks till we get similar conditions in both the locations shown!
And on the national level, the graphs for the Northeast (gold), Midwest (purple), South (red), and West (green) show a similar pattern of medium levels currently, and will probably continue to head downward.
In the meantime, at whatever the levels are, keep the fresh air flowing for reduced airborne illnesses of all kinds!
Now You Can Search This Blog!
We have added a “search” bar for this blog - scroll all the way down
to the very bottom of a blog page to find the search bar.
When using the “search” bar, please, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
[The website company has an ongoing glitch.]
Find all of the blog post titles on our “Resources” page on the website:
Comprehensive List of Blog Postings (PDF).