F.D. Flam, Columnist

Here Comes the Fourth Wave (Or Not)

Although there's disagreement about whether Covid is making a comeback, it's a good time to focus the message on what is known — and unknown — about risks.

April 14, 2021 at 10:30 AM UTC

By F.D. Flam

F.D. Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering science. She is host of the “Follow the Science” podcast.

Same.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

So are we having a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. or not? University of Minnesota’s Michael Osterholm has forecast a Covid “category 5 hurricane” this spring. To some people, a look at hard-hit Michigan could justify this level of alarm.

But Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia could also claim to be right with his much more optimistic view that vaccines will mostly tame the pandemic from this point forward. After all, U.S. death rates and hospitalizations are not spiking and may never return to anything close to the fall/winter peak.