COVID-19 is surging around the United States again in what experts consider the most transmissible variant of the pandemic yet.
But something is different this time: The public health authorities are holding back.
In Chicago, where the county’s COVID-19 warning level was raised to "high” last week, the city’s top doctor said there was no reason for residents to let the virus control their lives. The state health director in Louisiana likened a new rise in COVID-19 cases there to a downpour — "a surge within a surge” — but characterized the situation as concerning but not alarming.