Re:Flu and colds are back with a vengeance
by nradov on Thursday November 10, 2022 @02:25PM
(#33551708)
Deaths from COVID-19 are way down because at this point almost everyone has already been infected at least once. The patients who were going to die from it are mostly already dead. Those deaths were tragic, but for the rest of us the combination of vaccination, natural immunity, and general health status makes it no longer a serious concern (or at least not much more serious than other endemic respiratory viruses).
That said, I did not take that to mean that restrictions would be the only active component. I don't see any reason to think we can isolate this down to just a single prime mover.