Återförvildning

While I am not quite ready to tick of 2021 with regard to the running (27.8 km still left to go), I was thrilled to see “återförvildning” (or rewilding) among the annual list of new Swedish words. Unlike “spökkök” (ghost kitchen?!), it is a word that I have used quite a bit myself over the years, so it is great to see it being popularized.

Meanwhile, looking at the latest Covid-data has me scratching my head. Despite very high vaccination rates, both Iceland and Malta are seeing higher numbers of new cases than anytime during the pandemic. While the omicron variant is still new, these numbers are so far not matched by an equally exponential rise in hospitalizations so it might just be that we have arrived at a “new normal” where covid is exactly everywhere and we just have to realize that a lot of people get sick all the time. After all, the effects of any lockdown are always going to be temporary as cases will start rising again once restrictions are relaxed. Instead of endless testing (it is worth noting that the UK is running out of PCR tests right now!), we might perhaps have to accept that the disease is now endemic and that we have to treat it more like the common cold?