Covid hasn’t gone away – it just changed his clothes. And it may very well slip away for yet another unwelcome large visit in the coming weeks.
Across the EU, the new strategy is starting to look like, “Let’s hope the worst plague has left these parts.”
Omicron sub-variants are fueling an increase in Covid hospitals across Europe, particularly in Portugal, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Scientists are still unsure whether this is because these variants are more transmissible or because the immunity due to vaccines is declining.
The really bad news here is that we’re in the summer – whatever we may think of the vagaries of the Irish summer.
In the capitals of the 27 member states of the European Union, concerned health officials look at current trends and shudder at the thought of what things could be like when the chilly November winds begin to blow.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization reflected a growing view among scientific experts that the Covid virus will continue to evolve. Current summer trends – with a relatively high spike in numbers even as people are out and about – are causing many health officials to brace themselves for what this coming winter may bring in terms of Covid.
New horrors can be exacerbated by the flu and other more well-known signs of winter health problems. Depending on how you count these epidemic waves, we could be looking at number five – or even number six.
Most EU countries lifted the really strict Covid restrictions quite some time ago. And when journalists ask questions about plans if a “son of Covid” sneaks up on the country again, the response is rather reserved.
No citizen wants another gloomy winter of closed bars and restaurants, no sports and little or no other recreation. Even fewer politicians want to offer an advance on that small bundle of joy.
So it’s understandable that no one across the EU likes to be seen as someone who sets out to solve Covid problems.
The quietly emerging opinion among Brussels officials is that – even if Son of Covid does its worst – we are not looking at another lockdown. Officials point to emerging science that strongly, but not definitively, suggests the new species are less threatening.
Research suggests that the latest variants can evade vaccines and putative immunity to previous infections. But the flip side of that coin is that such new variants appear less threatening.
People will be sick, but less likely to die.
Meanwhile, more senior policymakers are pointing to the success of vaccine rollouts, driven by EU research funding and eventual coordination among member states.
At the moment, in any case, the EU planning is being kept under wraps.