“It may sound strange, given a year of panic over school closures and reopenings, a year of masking toddlers and closing playgrounds and huddling in pandemic pods, that among children the mortality risk from COVID-19 is actually lower than from the flu. The risk of severe disease or hospitalization is about the same. This is true for the much-worried-over Delta variant. It is also true for all the other variants, and for the original strain. Most remarkably, it has been known to be true since the very earliest days of the pandemic” David Wallace-Wells: The Kids Are Alright. Why now is the time to rethink COVID safety protocols for children — and everyone else.

+ I feel pretty good about my vaccinated kids and myself. But in my gut, I worry that these days of normalcy across the country are a temporary respite. “The US is averaging about 19,455 new cases over the last seven days, a 47% increase from the week prior.” In regions with lower vaccination rates, “we’re going to see a surprising amount of death.”

+ As per usual, one of the core threats to America is Fox News. NYT (free gift article for ND readers). Despite Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated, Fox News Hosts Smear Shots.

+ Israel becomes first country to offer COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.

+ Hundreds of Thais inoculated with Sinovac are infected as cases spike in Southeast Asia.