you need to be mean and uncouth and callous and unrepentant because there is a rapidly intensifying hunt to suppress and punish wrongthink and the more people who are on some shit, the less harm that hunt can cause. “i am spartacus” but for being an asshole.

The Times is very misinformed. There is no evidence that the virus has evolved to be less dangerous. Herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 has not been achieved. The immunity that exists is due to both natural infection and vaccination, but is short-lived and will decline with reduced vaccine availability.