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Logically, the virus can only weaken: immunity rises, weaker versions of the virus are more likely to replicate, doctors and nurses develop immunities. The ‘second wave’ hysteria forces us to see the adaptive ebb and flow — the inter-relationship between society and the virus — as a ‘surge’, as a breakdown in order, as a return to illness and chaos. Big data is always murky; the stories we tell about that data even murkier. Beware easy narratives about things getting worse, about red states governors failing. These narratives miss the point. Let federal and state leaders let people observe and adapt at the local level — it’s OK. We should all be sensitive to the present, not terrified of it. The future is coming, not the past.
