“We are headed in the wrong direction, and that’s reflected not only in the number of new cases but also in test positivity and the number of hospitalizations. Together, I think these three indicators give a very clear picture that we are seeing increased transmission in communities across the country … We are starting from a much higher plateau than we were before the summer wave … It concerns me that we might see even more cases during the next peak than we did during the summer.” So said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, as U.S. Virus Cases Climb Toward a Third Peak.

+ And, from a national perspective, we’re climbing this peak alone. ProPublica: Inside the Fall of the CDC. “How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.” (You can basically substitute the name of any American institution for CDC and this story still works.)