The “worst variant” since the last “worst variant” a few months ago has arrived, apparently, so Americans should get back in the cave according to the White House.
You could’ve been mistaken this week to believe we had entered a time warp back to March of 2020 as the Biden administration again convened everyone’s favorite Covid-19 task force players to strike up the band and ask America to dance.
Viewers of the public press conference were greeted with advice such as reminders to wash your hands and upgrade your home’s ventilation system when partaking in indoor activities. You know, things that haven’t been said ad nauseam in the past two years.
According to Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator, the Biden administration has been watching the BA.5 Covid subvariant very closely, so you should too:
“We have been watching this virus evolve rapidly. We’ve been planning and preparing for this moment. And the message that I want to get across to the American people is this: BA.5 is something we’re closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator, in a news briefing on Tuesday.
The result of the White House’s panic p*rn conference isn’t clearly defined. Should Americans stop all activities again? Should we close schools? Should we mask up? Should we try all the various mandates and forced behavioral changes that bore little to no positive influence on changing the viral infection rates or altering the trajectory of this airborne virus?
Essentially, the press conference is for the 20% or so still living in the Covid fear bubble reminding them that it’s still not safe to leave the cave, and it never will be.
As the New York Times reported on the BA.5 variant development, even in the hottest of previous Covid-19 hotspots, New York City, Americans are done living in fear and done letting politicians ruin the education system and the economy:
The warning from the White House comes as many Americans have turned their attention away from the pandemic. Mask mandates have been dropped in many states and cities, and most travelers no longer wear masks now that a federal judge has barred the Biden administration from requiring them in airports and on public transit.
In New York City, which mounted perhaps the nation’s most aggressive response to the pandemic when the novel coronavirus first emerged, people are greeting BA.5 with a “meh.”
The “meh” response is mostly due to the never-ending hyperbole and hypocrisy displayed by public officials since March of 2020. Mask mandates were followed only by the peasants but ignored by elected officials when they attended a wedding or wanted to watch a sporting event. Public school systems closed down for far too long leaving children abandoned and adrift. Businesses were closed or stuck with enforcing mask mandates or vaccine mandates hurting their customer base.
No, it seems that America is rather set on not allowing politicians to shut down the economy when month after month revealed that the advice from public health “experts” was often proven wrong or at best misleading based on whatever the public needed to hear.
The damage inflicted by those in power on the weakest in society, namely children, will continue to haunt our society for years, probably decades. Just look at the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois. Both shooters, by accounts, already with issues, were set on a worse path after Covid lockdowns kept them isolated, out of school, and away from personal contact.
The Covid-19 vaccinations were oversold in terms of ongoing efficacy and an ability to eliminate the spread of infection entirely. Joe Biden himself said so. That statement, regarding vaccines ending the spread, was utterly false and led many Americans to believe that if everyone simply got their vaccination, the pandemic would end. This resulted in hatred toward anyone who decided for their personal reasons and health, that they didn’t need a Covid-19 vaccination.
Over time that belief was proven false and demonstrably so. The third and fourth booster shots were supposed to reduce infection and eliminate the chances of future variants. That too didn’t happen, the variants are here and spreading among the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.
According to the data, Covid-19 cases are rising again, but deaths are thankfully lagging behind. This is the result of immunity, natural or otherwise, keeping people from developing severe cases. The BA.5 subvariant is more akin to a head cold with a sore throat and fever. In other words, an illness people deal with throughout the year.
The net result is that America has collectively decided this level of risk is tolerable to continue living life with and the White House Covid panel should find something else to fight, like monkeypox.
