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More
than 443,000 Americans have already died in the pandemic, and even if the
entire population started doing everything right – wearing masks, avoiding
gatherings, staying two arms' lengths away from one another – the Institute
for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts at
least 130,000 more people will die in the next three months.
And
now the new
variants are here. Virologists predicted from the beginning that
the coronavirus would change, and at least two more contagious variants are
now spreading in the US.
But
public health experts are
pessimistic that Americans are going to change their ways, one
year into the pandemic. The Americans who are willing to wear masks already
are doing so. Those who can or are willing to stay home are already doing
it. Lockdowns have been unpopular and local officials are not willing to
enforce them, anyway.
"We
have not been seeing governments taking action to apply cautionary measures
as quickly as expected, and have incorporated that information into the
modeling," said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray in releasing his
team's latest bleak forecast. "Without measures to control the spread
of the disease, mobility remains higher and transmission is more likely.”
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