> Or see: the New England states with high vaccination rates and a recent record surge in cases. As a resident of New England, I've been expecting a fall surge

> Or see: the New England states with high vaccination rates and a recent record surge in cases. As a resident of New England, I've been expecting a fall surge for a while. In the north, we're all shutting windows and turning on our furnaces at night, which means much worse ventilation. The afternoons are still warm enough to socialize outside, but that will start to change in November. Followed by holiday travel. And we still have towns with low vaccination rates. Our absolute numbers are still fairly low in many places, and we don't have people lined up in the corridors of the local hospitals. > What matters isn't the case counts, it's the number of deaths that matter I actually think that severe illness counts are important, too. I'll make some sacrifices to avoid hospitalization or merely being incapacitated for a couple weeks.