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Omicron Variant: Here We Go Again!
No one — I mean no one — is going to put me through the fear and misery of the last two years with COVID-19. Fortunately, I live in Florida, and we’ve watched Gov. DeSantis behave like a mature and wise adult regarding the virus. But once again, panic reigns as another variant shows up on the scene. And one state and most definitely the federal government can’t wait to pass more draconian measures supposedly to protect us.
When the announcement first came from South Africa about the new variant, called Omicron, the scientists emphasized that data was limited:
Health officials in South Africa said the reaction by other countries was premature, given how little was understood yet about the new strain. [Professor Salim Abdool] Karim noted that it was only detected thanks to South Africa’s excellent scientific surveillance of COVID-19 cases, which specifically hunts for new variants. Few other nations have such a robust genomic sequencing program to find the strains.
Surprisingly, the World Health Organization showed some sanity in its response:
But despite the World Health Organization’s call for ‘a risk-based and scientific approach’ as it urged nations not to adopt travel restrictions yet, some countries decided not to wait for the detailed scientific analysis. Britain, France and Israel have cancelled direct flights from South Africa and surrounding nations.
And, of course, the mainstream media couldn’t wait to publish the most frightening news they could possibly create:
A potentially dangerous new strain of the coronavirus is alarming scientists around the world and prompting governments to ban travelers from southern African nations. The variant was first detected in South Africa, where scientists were quick to flag it to the global health community.
As CBS News correspondent Debora Patta reports, there’s serious concern among experts that the new strain could set back the fight against the pandemic.
These reactions were based on only 100 cases in South Africa.
One day ago, however, the South Africans provided an up-to-date and less hysterical perspective:
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a practicing doctor for 30 years who chairs the South African Medical Association (SAMA), said she believed she had found a new strain of the virus after COVID-19 patients at her private practice in Pretoria exhibited strange symptoms.
‘Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,’ Coetzee told The Telegraph . . .
‘It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well,’ Coetzee told the paper. ‘So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.’
Joe Biden, who accused Donald Trump of racist motivations for closing our borders against the coronavirus, may be doing the same thing on Monday against some African countries.
And we can count on New York to lead the way with a panicked approach:
There have been no confirmed cases of the new variant in the United States yet, but officials believe it may already be here. Two cases have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, which joined the US and European Union in issuing travel restrictions.
On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and put a temporary halt on all elective surgeries in anticipation of hospitalizations.
What do you think will be happening in your local communities and your state? Will governors wait for more information, or will they compete for the panic prize? Will school boards react and will the unions demand action, even if the science says to take a wait-and-see approach?
In other words, will the power brokers go for more power and expect citizens to submit?
Published in Domestic Policy
The mandatory vaccination passport program will be comprehensive, horribly mismanaged, and the means of proof so onerous to obtain that everybody but government officials and illegal aliens will have to remain indoors thus creating a de facto lockdown. The FCC will require Zoom, GoToMeeting, Teams to install facial recognition filters to disconnect anybody not wearing a mask. XBox and PlayStation will be required to sell masks wirelessly connected to the controllers to take points and games lives away from non-mask wearers. Voting will be by mail but ballots will only reach those vetted by the postal workers’ unions. The Chinese renminbi will become the world currency after another Biden initiative so our COVID unemployment checks might as well be in Bolivars even if they were issued. And the virus will still spread on its own terms, at its own rate…
The demand for abortions will approach zero, what happens to Planned Parenthood…?
However someone (or an organization) reacts to the Omicron variant of Covid is how I assume that person (or organization) will behave for the rest of his or her life. If someone says something should be done because of Omicron (resume masking, stay home, close businesses, ban travel, extra vaccine, extra testing, contact trace, etc. ), that person should be asked if he (or she) is prepared to do that (and in some cases force others to do so) for the rest of his life? The appearance of the Omicron variant represents the most likely behavior of the Covid virus for as long as most of us will continue to be alive. Are we really going to spend the rest of our lives in cycles of panic, shutdown, and restrictions for a new variant every few months? If so, then acknowledge that, and let the rest of us decide if that is really how we are willing to live.
They will need bigger federal subsidies.