Better times ahead

The good news is that the U.S. COVID-19 deaths for 2023 will likely exceed 100,000 but should be well under the 267,000 of 2022 (and the 415,000 of 2021 and the 350,831 of 2020). As with last winter, the vaccines put the pressure on, and a new variant (XBB.1.5) has emerged that now represents half of the cases. It is probably less lethal than those before but very contagious. BQ.1.1 is still prett…