LaSalle’s September 2021 Macro Indicators
From Pandemic to Endemic: The Delta Variant Transition As the Delta variant becomes dominant worldwide and forces some countries to reimpose restrictions, we ask a crucial question: What impact on consumer and investor behaviour will COVID-19, and its existing and future variants, have in the long run? The good news is that most experts agree that current vaccines are highly effective against severe disease caused by all known variants of the virus. The links between cases, hospitalisations and mortality have weakened in places with the highest level of vaccinations—such as Singapore, Canada, the UK, Germany, and France. are among the leaders in their rates of fully vaccinated individuals. From the point of view of long-term investors, waves of the virus will diminish as the outlines of the post-pandemic world become clearer. That said, the Delta variant represents a major setback for a speedy return to pre-pandemic “normalcy”. This reinforces our view that some aspects of economic and social behaviour are likely to take longer to recover than many imagined six months ago.