We have learned a lot about viruses and pandemics in this past year, perhaps much more than we ever wanted to. We are overwhelmed by the information bombarding us every hour through our TV channels and our news feeds, inevitably slipping into our discussions with family and friends. Yet, even with such an incessant deluge of information everywhere we look, certain key questions remain unanswered. As time goes by, these build up and accumulate in the back of our brains, slowly adding to the dull sense of dread that we are all familiar with by now.
For example, how do we know when one wave has ended and another has begun? Why does the timing of the waves differ so much from country to country? How many more waves will be there before the pandemic is over? How will we know when the last wave has come, and how sure will we be that the pandemic is at an end? And for that matter, why do pandemics come in waves at all?
Read the rest of this story on my blog, The Scientific Lens.
