Finally some good news on COVID (Editorial)

Pandemic Pollyannas are rare, and for obvious reasons too.

After all, someone who always tends to look on the bright side, honestly believing that every cloud that approaches has a silver lining, would have had a terribly difficult time over the past year and a half. This is because the news, day after day, was so often one of two varieties: bad and worse.

Consider: It has now been over 18 months since we were asked for 15 days to slow the spread of the coronavirus. How did that happen ?

But still, there was some good news along the way. The coming of vaccines, of course. A new antiviral pill that has not yet been approved. And a much lower number of cases.

Wait just a minute. Lowercase letters matter? How is it already?

That’s right, believe it or not, although it took a bit of digging to find this news. On Monday, the New York Times reported that the number of cases had dropped significantly in the United States and abroad.

Why? No one knows for sure, but it’s definitely worth noting. To celebrate that too.

Could this perhaps be a sign that we are finally heading for better days? May be. We can hope.

Here is Dr Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner, speaking to David Leonhardt of The Times: “Unless there is something unexpected, I am of the opinion that this is the last great wave of infection.

Think about it for more than a second, and it truly is an amazing statement. If he is right, that means we would take a fundamentally important step forward and be heading into the light of a new and better day. And you don’t have to be Pollyanna to see it that way.

A pandemic, unlike a war, has no definitive end date. There is no peace agreement, no teleprinter parade.

There is not even universal agreement on how, or when, the 1918 influenza pandemic ended. He just sort of disappeared from view.

Consider some statistics: Since September 1, the number of new cases in the United States has declined by 35%. All over the world, the number of cases has fallen by more than 30% since the end of August.

How about a big thumbs up for these numbers? If only this data were more widely known, people would be screaming from the rooftops, but the positive news is so often lost amid gloom and gloom.

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