, Columnist
Biden Has Covid and the Summer Surge Is Officially Here
A wave of infections has become a summer tradition. But thanks to vaccines and previous exposure, hospitalizations aren’t rising in lockstep.
Still here.
Photographer: KENT NISHIMURA/AFPLast night the White House announced that President Joe Biden had tested positive for Covid, making him the most prominent example of this summer’s mini-surge.
Each summer, Covid seems to catch people in the US off guard by defying our assumptions about how viruses ought to behave in warm weather. The flu, for example, typically goes underground until the winter holidays. But Covid burbles back up to ruin our vacation plans and force us to offload summer concert tickets. Based on what researchers are seeing in wastewater, it’s happening again.