“… The lambda variant swept Peru in May. They were getting 1000 deaths/day for 10,000 cases/day.…”
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You do understand that, UNLIKE THE U.S., Peru doesn’t test everybody and their brother repeated. So their “case” count will be relatively low compared to their deaths. That’s different than in the US where if two fragments of a virus floating in the breeze ended up settling in your nasal passage and you’re tested… YOU BECOME A CASE.
Well, I think there is some merit in that perspective in that the US in winter was testing often. Not so now, as vaccinated people think they are bullet proof and they have to be really sick to get tested. Which makes the current surge in cases ominous. People are not doing drive thru testing if they are vaxed. They only get tested if sick.
In Peru the measurement is May, with awareness elevated (versus US Jan) and their odd weather had temps in the 80s, even at altitude, driving people to cluster into AC. As it cooled down, people got back outside and death counts have fallen in recent weeks.
But regardless, Peru was seeing 10% of cases die to lambda. Lesser variants don’t even reach that number if the patient is hospitalized.