Why are Covid-19 cases increasing in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Another tiring piece on COVID reporting on yet another variant. We are long past the point where we started to live with COVID, without modifying our way of life.

Lockdowns due to COVID is only possible in oppressive regimes like China or Russia.

If mental health in western countries was measured, it would show a clear improvement the last 6 months.

Given that "covid is so over" for many people, it's probably only a matter of time before they're exposed. Sooner if they're in a population-dense area where there's international travel, later if it's the reverse. The new variants are contagious, and (so far) seem to be colds/flu's/bad flu's that don't cause spikes in the ICU rate. Which is what "endemic covid" would look like. Or, to use more political language, what "herd immunity" would look like, given that nothing gives immunity to covid.