Not again.

We’re all ready to get off the COVID-19 roller coaster, so this week’s announcements from local public health officials that they’re seeing a rise in infections and hospitalizations arrived with a thud.

It was a predictable bit of news, but it is an unwelcome one.

News of the virus’ more contagious Delta variant spreading like wildfire in regions of the country where vaccination rates lag had us waiting for that shoe to drop in our region. It also had us hoping that our somewhat regionally robust vaccination effort might hold the new variant at bay, might tamp down the potential for the kind of precipitous spike that has hospitals in Missouri bumping against capacity limits.

It’s still a bit unclear whether our inoculation saturation will insulate the Grand Traverse region from such a catastrophe. The early numbers are concerning.

We sure hope our region will fare better than the worst hotspots, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s county-by-county ranking of transmission rates indicates we shouldn’t be so sure. In fact, a list of northern Michigan counties moved from “moderate” to “high” transmission rate classification this week, including Alpena, Charlevoix and Montmorency.

Hospitalizations at facilities run by Munson Healthcare are up threefold from a week ago. They’re not yet scraping peak numbers from the worst earlier spike, but they’re headed that direction, quick.

And similar to other regions of the nation, the worst infections in this wave of the new variant in northern Michigan appear to be hitting folks who haven’t yet been vaccinated.

“We’re seeing the vast majority of people admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 are not vaccinated,” said Munson’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christine Nefcy.

We’re still hopeful this wave of the pandemic doesn’t clobber our neighbors and loved ones the way it has vulnerable people elsewhere. We also hope folks who haven’t yet gotten a vaccine see fit to do their part in slowing the spread of this latest wave of infection by wearing masks, or better yet, getting vaccinated if possible.

The road toward whatever our new normal is has been a bit rough, and we sure don’t think anyone in northern Michigan wants to find out what another big bump looks like.

We’re hopeful for all that collective responsibility and effort during the first months of this year to pay off in a blip where a spike might otherwise form. Yet, the numbers developing are enough to have us concerned.