You don’t want to hear this, I know, but there are signs that we’re headed for something of a COVID resurgence.

On Thursday, the New Hampshire Hospital Association reported more COVID-19 patients than at any time since April. Alice Peck Day Hospital in Lebanon recently reinstituted mask mandates because of rising cases.

The Penacook wastewater treatment plant is finding more SARS-CoV2 virus in its samples than at any point since June, while Boston’s wastewater virus count has been rising steadily since July.

And when I mentioned to a source last week that my boss’ boss was out with COVID, he came back with tales of an employee who has just done the same.

This is happening as a new COVID variant named Eris (officially it’s EG.5, a name based on protein mutations) is spreading fast around the world.

Now, don’t panic. New Hampshire is still in pretty good shape.

Fewer than half as many people are in the hospital with COVID now than a year ago at this time, and not all signs are bad. The Hall Street wastewater plant in Concord, for example, has not seen a recent rise in COVID virus.

But I suspect that you have largely stopped thinking about COVID at all, just as I have. That should probably change, unfortunately. It’s time to resurrect some of our pandemic habits.

I’m not going to stop going into crowded places but I think I am going to start wearing masks again (ugh) in stores. Assuming I can remember where I put them.

My COVID tests are all way out of date. Maybe it’s worth getting new ones.

Finally, I have, of course, gotten all the vaccines and boosters that I’m eligible for. You’d be foolish not to do the same.

With any luck this won’t be necessary but I’ve heard enough scary things about the effects of long COVID that I don’t want to risk it. I’m creating enough brain fog on my own; I don’t need any viral help.

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