Ashish K. Jha

Several years ago, Paul Farmer and I both spoke at a conference at Harvard on the history and future of global health. As our program finished, Paul was immediately inundated with a throng of students eager to speak with the guru of the field, the man who inspired us all and asked more of each of us. I shuffled off to speak with the few avoiding the crowd.After Paul finished with the students, he came over to give me a hug, and we made small talk.

The Omicron wave is upon us, and the national conversation is vacillating between panic and indifference. Those who are near panic point to rapidly rising case counts and lockdowns in several European nations. Those who are indifferent lean into reports of Omicron being a milder coronavirus variant; after nearly two years of COVID, that can feel like reason enough to put the pandemic in the rear-view mirror and get on with their life.Both perspectives are understandable, but neither is helpful.

As the air gets colder and drier and people in most of the United States move indoors, a winter spike in COVID-19 cases is beginning to materialize. The drop in new infections across the Deep South after a difficult summer raised hopes that the country could get through this winter without another surge. But that no longer seems likely. With less than 60 percent of Americans fully vaccinated, the U.S. remains vulnerable to renewed winter outbreaks.