COVID’s been everywhere, man

What’s particularly terrifying about the latest COVID spike is how pervasive it is:

With a third surge of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the U.S., many public-health authorities are warning the coronavirus is now so widespread that it will take pervasive new measures to contain it.

New infections surpassed 177,224 on Friday, setting a daily record that eclipsed the highest daily case counts of previous peaks in the spring and summer. The number of new infections was lower Saturday at 166,555, while new deaths numbered nearly 1,300, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19, meanwhile, reached 69,455 on Saturday, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

In earlier surges, infections were concentrated in cities such as New York and Chicago, or populous states like Florida and Texas. Many of the outbreaks then were linked to travelers returning from overseas or so-called superspreading events such as conferences, weddings and rallies.

Now, it is everywhere. People are becoming infected not just at big gatherings, but when they let their guard down, such as by not wearing a mask, while going about their daily routines or in smaller social settings that they thought of as safe—often among their own families or trusted friends.

Remember when Bret Stephens assured us that it was unpossible for COVID to spread beyond the densest urban areas? Obviously, he started with the premise that doing anything to stop the pandemic was bad — can’t show that government can work or people might start getting ideas! — and obviously pro-Trump Republicans are no more likely to update their priors despite them being massively wrong all along. See, for example, the psychos in the Minnesota wing of the Trump Death Cult.

If we could just implement appropriate measures while waiting for the vaccine to come in a few months a lot of lives would be saved, but that’s not how we’re going to play it in most jurisdictions.