Hope feels like an unsafe emotion lately. Personally and professionally, I don’t want to wax optimistic only to be crushed as deaths rise. Pessimism is safer.
But in the US, at least, the reality right now is pretty damn hopeful. nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opi…
But in the US, at least, the reality right now is pretty damn hopeful. nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opi…
Let me back up: On Jan 28th, I published a column that began like this:
“I hope, in the end, that this article reads as alarmism. I hope that a year from now it’s a piece people point to as an overreaction.”
Good news: Six weeks later, it does!
nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opi…
“I hope, in the end, that this article reads as alarmism. I hope that a year from now it’s a piece people point to as an overreaction.”
Good news: Six weeks later, it does!
nytimes.com/2021/01/28/opi…
The column was all about the new variants, and the way experts thought we could have a truly hellish period as super-contagious strains exploded before mass vaccination took hold.
But — thankfully — that’s not what happened.
But — thankfully — that’s not what happened.
Instead, cases fell and kept falling. They fell in the US, and Europe, and globally. They fell in places with very different policies. They fell in places with vaccines, and places without. 
There’s lots of debate about why this is (seasonality, immunity from previous infections, etc), but the point is it happened. In this crucial period, cases levels plummeted.
And the US used the time well.
And the US used the time well.
In the US, vaccination ramped way up. We’ve vaccinated more than half of those 75 and over.
We're on pace for 50% vaccination by mid-May, disproportionately the most vulnerable.
Vaccines will be open to all adults by May. And the vaccines *work*.
It’s extraordinary.
We're on pace for 50% vaccination by mid-May, disproportionately the most vulnerable.
Vaccines will be open to all adults by May. And the vaccines *work*.
It’s extraordinary.
That’s what this podcast with @Ashishkjha is about: Looking at the good news all around us, and the remarkable trends around us, and taking seriously that, in the US at least, there is an end in sight. nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opi…
That means there are some conversations we need to start having that will be tricky: What level of risk are we comfortable with?
The end of this isn’t zero risk. It’s an acceptable level of risk. But what is that? And who decides?
The end of this isn’t zero risk. It’s an acceptable level of risk. But what is that? And who decides?
And then: How do we hasten the end of the crisis globally? There are both altruistic and selfish reasons for that — the more global cases, the more potential for dangerous new variants.
But this is one COVID conversation, probably the first I’ve published, that will leave you feeling a lot more hope than despair.
nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opi…
nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opi…
Full transcript here, if you like that sort of thing: nytimes.com/2021/03/12/pod…
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