Covid winter outlook - Near-Earth asteroid - Hidden Syria strike

Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays could bring another surge, according to data from experts. That's primarily because mask use has been subsiding and family reunions and holiday dinners put people close together around tables, often without masks. The virus that causes Covid-19 thrives in cool, dry air, and when people gather indoors, especially unmasked, they are more likely to transmit it.
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“Delta and waning immunity — the combination of these two have set us back,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington. But even for those who track cases, it is hard to predict where the virus is going.
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Meanwhile, in Europe, cases rose over 10% in the past week as the World Health Organization said the continent was “back at the epicenter of the pandemic.” “I think the era of locking people up in their homes is over because we now have tools to control COVID — the testing, vaccines and therapeutics,” Devi Sridhar, University of Edinburgh, said.