The Covid hysterics’ bleak midwinter

The ancients had a word for it, winter, and it’s eliciting trembles of horror from the Cassandras over at the New York Times. New Yorkers, the Times recently croaked, “are living not just among the coronavirus and its seemingly endless variants, but a bunch of other viruses too.” This “bunch” includes such baffling ailments as the common cold and the flu. One man interviewed by the Times “has been walking around town with a stuffy nose and a mysterious cough that keeps clattering in his lungs.”

Why any of this would suddenly happen just as the weather is getting cold remains a medical mystery. Yet thankfully the Times has a theory:

Although city officials have been recommending that New Yorkers wear masks in indoor public spaces, few are heeding that call. School attendance remains relatively high too, though it dipped a little recently. Restaurants and coffee shops are busy, and offices show no signs of closing. People are still going out to movies, music venues and cocktail bars.

Cocktail bars. The unmitigated gall of people thinking they can just go to cocktail bars is enough to make you think we don’t deserve Dr. Fauci. ...

ECONOMIC VIEW:

Postpone Thanksgiving and Save Hundreds of Lives
Giving thanks and getting together safely can be done with far less risk six months from now, an economist says.

While Macy’s presents a pandemic version of its annual parade next week, families can go even further by waiting until May to gather for a Thanksgiving.Credit...Calla Kessler/The New York Times

By Justin Wolfers
Nov. 19, 2020
Let’s postpone Thanksgiving until May 27. By then Americans should have a lot more to be thankful for, including the likely availability of at least two highly effective vaccines, perhaps the freedom to get together with friends and possibly the end of the current economic slump.

The date doesn’t have to be in exactly six months, but it should be soon after vaccines have made it safer to travel, spend time indoors with loved ones and break bread with older and more vulnerable members of the family.

Before dismissing this idea, hear me out.

First, picture what a November Thanksgiving will look like this year: a smaller group around the table, perhaps people wearing masks and coping with the awkwardness of a not-quite-a-hug across the room. And in the background will be echoes of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent warning that “household gatherings are an important contributor to the rise in Covid-19 cases.”

By contrast, a post-vaccine Thanksgiving offers greater possibilities: hugging loved ones, huddling around the dinner table and shouting at whatever sport is being shown on TV. There will be more love around the table, because you can invite your entire crew, not just those family or friends already in your bubble or those who are willing to risk their health.

After a year involving so much loss, Americans need a true Thanksgiving — infused with love and gratitude — rather than the constraints that will come from celebrating according to an arbitrary calendar date.

In economic terms, a later Thanksgiving would yield a larger benefit. It would also involve a much smaller cost. During a pandemic, the relevant costs are measured in health risk. Thanksgiving in November comes with a huge cost, in that you might catch the coronavirus, or spread it to loved ones and then even to the entire community. That cost is especially high right now, as infection rates soar.

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Moreover, news that at least two highly effective vaccines are likely to be available within several months has transformed the cost-benefit calculus of being Covid-careful.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/business/thanksgiving-in-may.html

PS: Postpone Christmas until late spring?

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