Morning Jolt: Is the World Going Viral . . . Again?

WITH JIM GERAGHTY

December 18 2023

Is the World Going Viral . . . Again?

On the menu today: Remember a few weeks ago, when all kinds of media sources offered you ominous reports about a surge of patients with respiratory illnesses, particularly children, crowding into Chinese hospitals? And then after a couple of days, coverage of that portentous topic just seemed to disappear? Fear not. We have more data and information now, and doctors and health experts — from China to Taiwan to the World Health Organization to the U.S. CDC — are all seeing the same thing and offering the same assessment: This is what happens when the usual bouillabaisse of cold, flu, and other familiar viruses hit a population that spent much of the past three years in lockdowns. We in North America are probably going to have a typically frustrating winter of sniffles and coughs, but there’s little reason to think that the return of lockdowns is just around the corner. And finally, I take the histrionics of my critics seriously.

Back on the Virus Beat

Sometimes a new virus in China is the next great global pandemic. And sometimes, it’s just another virus.

I can’t begrudge anyone for hearing news about hospitals filling up ...

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