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The Best Path Forward for Omicron: Let It Rip
Townhall.com ^ | January 14, 2022 | Josh Hammer

Posted on 01/14/2022 4:02:33 AM PST by Kaslin

The recent arrival of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has, for far too many, reset the clock of our timeline for a return to societal normalcy.

Public health authorities in many countries reimposed loosened travel restrictions that had lapsed. Washington, D.C., under the mayorship of Muriel Bowser, passed a draconian private-sector vaccination mandate, the likes of which had previously only passed muster in iconic deep-blue metropolises such as New York City. The vacillating mandarins who constitute the "public health" apparatus in this country, such as Lord-Emperor Anthony Fauci, quickly began fearmongering about the need to avoid large gatherings for Christmas and New Year's Eve. Restaurants and bars across the country that had shelved mask mandates suddenly deemed it necessary to make customers mask up again.

The sober reality, as should be obvious as we approach the two-year anniversary of "15 Days to Slow the Spread," is that COVID-19 is simply not going anywhere; much like influenza or the common cold, it is now something humanity is simply going to have to deal with. Furthermore, at this point in the "pandemic," it should be equally obvious that the COVID-19 vaccines are completely ineffective at preventing viral transmission. There is simply no compelling evidence that the vaccines are generally effective at slowing the spread. The vaccines often appear to be an effective symptom mitigation prophylactic for those who catch COVID-19, but that makes vaccination a quintessential private health decision with little-to-no relevance for public health authorities.

The omicron variant, furthermore, may be highly contagious, but it is also highly nonlethal. According to a Wednesday tweet from no less a public health "authority" than Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky herself, the omicron variant, compared with its delta variant predecessor, poses a 53% lower risk for symptomatic hospitalization, a 74% lower risk for ICU admission and a 91% lower risk of death. What's more, zero -- yes, literally zero -- omicron-infected patients in the U.S. have, to date, required mechanical ventilation. And it is at best unclear, as of this writing, whether there has been more than one omicron-induced death in the U.S.

What's more, omicron isn't just symptomatically mild -- it's everywhere. Last week, the CDC estimated that a remarkably high 95.4% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. were attributable to omicron.

In such a situation as this, where the overwhelming majority of new cases for a highly contagious virus (and for which even a "booster" vaccine cannot help forestall transmission) are so symptomatically mild and where the possibility of death is near zero, there is only one logical public policy posture that public health authorities should take: Sit back and let the omicron variant rip through these United States.

Suffice it to say that this has not been our universal response to date. As popular pundit Ann Coulter tweeted last month, the D.C.- and blue state-driven reaction has often looked more like this: "GOD: Here's a gift humans: a COVID variant that's wildly contagious, but not lethal, to spread immunity far and wide! HUMANS (in blue states): TRIPLE MASK! CANCEL GATHERINGS! SHUT DOWN!"

Coulter's instinct is sound. In general, it is imprudent to base sweeping public policy decisions on idiosyncratically vulnerable population subsets. As one example, consider how no one in his right mind would seek to ban peanuts despite the fact that a peanut allergy is both common and often deadly (certainly, far deadlier than omicron). This has been the biggest flaw in our COVID-19 response, all along: It always made more sense to isolate and quarantine the uniquely compromised, rather than impose in blunderbuss fashion draconian restrictions upon an entire populace.

The very nonlethal nature of omicron only further militates in favor of a policy of "let it rip." Zero Americans have required a ventilation from omicron to date, and it seems that precisely one American has died. It borders on insanity to make public policy based on that. The wiser and saner thing to do would be to let the omicron variant rip and spread far and wide, temporarily making many Americans mildly ill in the short term while bulking up their natural immunity in the long term -- and, of course, avoiding ventilation and death.

To that end, public policy should actually look like something approximating the opposite of our current approach. Instead of doling out free COVID-19 tests willy-nilly and encouraging everyone to test and avoid one another, we should be discouraging mass testing -- especially for the asymptomatic -- and eschewing any and all arbitrary restrictions on public gatherings. Leading red states such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee can and should lead the way by restricting the mass availability of testing for all but the vulnerable and immunocompromised. On omicron, the freest policies are now necessarily also the best policies.

At least as it pertains to the omicron variant, the only way out is through. Let this thing rip.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; covid19; omicron; vaccines; wuhancoronavirus

1 posted on 01/14/2022 4:02:33 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I think I have it. Ugh!


2 posted on 01/14/2022 4:05:17 AM PST by Tennessee Conservative (My goal in life is to be the person my dogs think I am)
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To: Kaslin

the lack of accountability AGAINST Lord-Ruler-Tyrant-Mengele
FauXi for making his evil Atrocity-virus-SPIKEprotein
means more will come, more deaths, more morbiditiy,
more sterililzation, more FF to cover it up,
more adult sudden deaths, more spont. aborts,
more myocardities, more autoimmune disease,

as the Maltese-run SCOTUS demands the poisons for
all federal doctors and nurses BUT NOT THEIR OWN FAMILIES.


3 posted on 01/14/2022 4:08:33 AM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Kaslin

50-100 years from now, as history is written about this pandemic and those who didn’t live through it evaluate what was done right and what was done wrong...I would like to be that fly on the wall.

Much had been done wrong. They sent them home after testing to recover or if getting worse go to the hospital. At no point was any early intervention treatment explored by the mighty scientists of the government. Instead, the government put all their hopes in a shot, they gave themselves only on chance to save lives. This was their biggest mistake.


4 posted on 01/14/2022 4:19:03 AM PST by EBH (Hold My Beer. 1776-2021 May God Save Us.)
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To: Tennessee Conservative

I think I have it too. Nuisance!


5 posted on 01/14/2022 4:21:55 AM PST by HotKat (Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason. Mark Twain)
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To: HotKat

From everything I read, it’s nearly impossible to tell it from a cold. Unless I need a doctor’s care, I’m not getting tested. If you need care that’s the first thing they test for. This started in my sinuses, stayed there with a dry cough for two or three days, and now it’s in my chest AND my head. The phlegm in my chest is loose now.

The weird thing is, the symptoms come and go. I have brief periods where I feel good and then BAM, my nose is running, my throat is burning, and I’m coughing up a lung. :-) My vision was really distorted this morning with halos and shadows but after a few cups of coffee and a bout of sneezing, they went away.

No fever and my oxygen stays at 99 so I’m good.


6 posted on 01/14/2022 4:37:41 AM PST by Tennessee Conservative (My goal in life is to be the person my dogs think I am)
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To: Kaslin

Omicron is God’s vaccine. Delta is almost gone.


7 posted on 01/14/2022 4:37:50 AM PST by lizma2
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To: Kaslin

My neighbor and his family come up positive for (most likely) Omicron over the past couple weeks… he told me he’s had it worse with hay fever. For the huge majority of folks, Omicron is mostly a mild annoyance.


8 posted on 01/14/2022 4:43:54 AM PST by ScottinVA (Enough. Cage the libs.. now. )
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To: lizma2

I agree - the best thing to do is let it rip. I believe that would be the end of covid.

But what do TPTB do? Double down on shots and require n95 masks. It is almost as if they don’t want covid to end 🤔


9 posted on 01/14/2022 4:58:53 AM PST by LilFarmer
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To: Tennessee Conservative

Five years ago it was the common cold.


10 posted on 01/14/2022 5:03:02 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie

As far as I’m concerned, it still is today.

The only time I have to see a doctor for a cold is if it triggers my asthma. I have bronchial asthma and irritation will trigger bronchitis. So far this hasn’t.


11 posted on 01/14/2022 5:13:06 AM PST by Tennessee Conservative (My goal in life is to be the person my dogs think I am)
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To: Kaslin

If Covid had started out like Omicron, it would have been called ‘a bad flu year’, if that. The idea of masks, lockdowns, or flu vaccines would have never been on the table.


12 posted on 01/14/2022 5:25:41 AM PST by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's, I just don't tell anyone, like most here.)
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To: BobL

If Covid had started out like Omicron, it would have been called ‘a bad flu year’, if that.

It took the coordinated efforts of the CCP and Fauci’s laundering money to the Wuhan bioweapons lab to engineer a more virulent virus that would have never existed in nature. These sorts of things just don’t happen on their own. It takes effort!


13 posted on 01/14/2022 5:32:49 AM PST by Flick Lives
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To: Kaslin

I think it is ripping no matter what the governments say.


14 posted on 01/14/2022 5:57:28 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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