Don't Freak Out About Omicron

My working theory continues to be that much of the press has PTSD from the early coverage of COVID. At the time, meat lockers were being used to store bodies. Hospitals were overrun. Doctors could not see their families. Parents were dying alone in hospitals. The COVID storyline has never really ended. In fact, it was the first storyline of the Trump Administration that seemed to last more than a week. It is still going on.

Now we have Omicron. We do not have the Xi strain because the World Health Organization does not want to offend President Xi, the Chicom dictator. But also, it is worth noting what we have had. We had the original COVID strain, plus Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, and Mu. The Nu variant name was skipped because it is pronounced “new” and that would have led to confusion. Xi is skipped because of China. That gets us to Omicron, the latest variant.

A few months ago, the media had ramped up to freak out about Lambda from South America. It penetrated the United States, then collapsed. Omicron has way more data because it originates from southern Africa. The South African government has a brilliant testing protocol due to the AIDS crisis and was easily able to identify Omicron and ascertain how widespread it is, unlike Peru with Lambda.

So we know already that Omicron spreads widely. What we also know from South African doctors is that it is not some unstoppable wave of death. Though early, hospitals in South Africa are not seeing an uptick in cases. Also, the United States has a better vaccination rate.

The media cannot help itself. It has PTSD from COVID coverage.

But there is no reason for alarm. At this point, COVID is endemic and not a pandemic. Treat it like flu season. Get a booster if haven’t or just wash your hands. The survival rate is still in the high nineties. Those who are immunocompromised or elderly should take more precautions. Kids are not seriously affected. We are never getting to COVID zero and our healthcare professionals should stop the absurd health theater of masking, social distancing, and constant freakouts now.

Live reasonably, but not in fear. The media is never not going to hype COVID these days. The press corps cannot help itself. Reporters need some serious therapy to move on. But you can go live your life without lockdowns, masks, and the inability to see your loved ones and enjoy life.