Its arrival is timed unfortunately with the Christmas and New Year's holidays. While we generally see cases and hospitalizations tapering off from the Thanksgiving Day surge, we'll have that predictable increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths coming just in time for the inauguration later in January.
To top off this predicable sequence of illness, acute care and death for some, we will have the more transmissible version of the virus to deal with. By some early estimates it is 70 percent more likely to be transmitted than the old reliable version of COVID-19, but not more deadly, thankfully — so far as we know.
I expect any day now that this new version of the virus will be announced as having arrived. Yet another sad milestone in 10 months of a pandemic experience. [Update: as of Dec. 29 the virus is here! One person in Colorado tested positive for this strain. With no international travel for him, that means there are more cases of that strain circulating. Expect a deluge of cases soon!]
An interesting side note: All the wireless carriers are touting their 5G capabilities. 5G promises "enhanced transmission" capabilities — not something that is universally desired, especially with a disease. I guess you could say we've been dealing with the old 3G/4G virus. Soon we'll have the "new and improved" one to deal with.
