SARS-CoV-2 has taken us on a rollercoaster, and not just on graphs of case counts. The natural tendency to project linearity to trends makes each hill and dip feel unnatural. The media exacerbates perceptual changes with its hyperfocal attention on each new development, even expected ones like breakthrough infections. People feel they are being jolted around. The early efficacy results of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were positively stunning. Demonstrating more than 90% vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection when the goal was a 50% reduction in severe disease caught people off guard. It was the first bit of...