The Next Lockdown Doesn’t Have To Deepen The She-Cession (This Time, We Can Be Ready)

It’s an odd time we find ourselves in (though when is it not at this point?). The little signifiers of a potential return to “normal” are thrilling (who would have thought that would be a way to describe back-to-school preparations), and yet those same developments have many holding their breath, because we still don’t know what’s going to happen.

Getting the kids ready for the school year is fantastic and all, but the real question is whether you’re ready for what happens when cooler autumn temperatures, 100 million some-odd unvaccinated Americans, and a country rapidly running out of patience with pandemic restrictions all collide with delta, the massively virulent strain of SARS-CoV-2 that’s currently the dominant form of the virus across the United States. According to the CDC, delta is as contagious as chickenpox and can be easily spread asymptomatically by both the unvaccinated and vaccinated. Inoculation against the virus dramatically reduces both the likelihood of infection and the severity of the following illness, yet tens of millions continue to refuse, providing plenty of bodies in which the virus can continue to spread and mutate.