Editor’s Note: We respect all opinions when it comes to COVID-19 and the pandemic. Our goal is to present all sides of this debate – from the left and right. With that spirit, we present one such perspective on this important issue. Note that 19FortyFive has no editorial line on COVID-19 – or any issue at all. We debate issues and let readers make informed judgments.
COVID-19, The Return?
There has been just enough distance and peace from COVID-19 restrictions and paranoia to let the horrible memories of those terrible two years fade into the recesses of most Americans’ minds.
The masks, the paper cards that were destroyed after sitting for months in your wallet, at the bottom of your purse, or crumpled in a pocket somewhere, the unfathomable amount of wasted plastic on useless tests. All seem to be a distant memory.
Not to mention the vitriol and shaming that went along with it. Most people seem to have buried the hatchet and moved on.
Not so fast.
COVID-19 Comeback
Get ready for that nasty four-letter word to be blasted on every news channel and social media feed again.
The whispering of the new strains and variants of COVID, mostly what is being called “EG.5,” are about to turn into loud screams.
Late last week, CNN reported that “a highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it.”
Our immunity will defend against it as well as it would any other virus had the government not insisted on multiple boosters to replace a well-functioning immune system. But you can bet on the return of the vaccine bandwagon.
Brian Goebel, an applied analytics expert and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, who has written extensively on COVID, has many questions about whether additional vaccinations are warranted in many cases based on the dated data being presented by the CDC with regards to the impact of vaccination on the risk of COVID-19 related mortality.
“The data are insufficiently granular regarding age bracket and underlying health to answer many important questions, such as what additional protection, if any, would a healthy person in various age brackets receive from an additional vaccination if he or she has already had 2 or 3 doses (the original series)? Would this analysis change if the person had also contracted COVID at some point over the last three years, as perhaps 80% of the population now has? It would really be nice to see a clearer presentation of the best available current data to empower GPs (general practitioners) to make specific recommendations for individuals.”
Buy why present good data in a clear format when you can simply whip people up into a frenzy? Much more effective.
Pfizer Profits Fall
Already, the Biden administration is prepping for new COVID “safety protocols” and purchasing COVID-19 equipment according to unearthed government contracts from entities including the Department of Defense (DOD).
The report comes from Steve Bannon’s site – stay with me – but links to verifiable government spending documents on the USASpending.gov site from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Natalie Winters, co-host of Steve Bannon’s “War Room” show, tweeted “COVID-19 cases aren’t skyrocketing. Big pharma’s profits are just plummeting.”
She is not wrong on the plummeting profits part. Pfizer, the maker of one the most popular vaccines, Comirnaty, is considering cost cuts as demand for COVID products falls.
One way to drum up more business? Bring back Covid fear and panic.
COVID 2.0
Some parody accounts are having fun over on “X” as well.
One entitled “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody)” stated, “COVID is back. Double masking apparently wasn’t enough. We should require 5 masks this go around.”
While the fear mongering is almost comical at this point, you can bet enough people will fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
Citizens should once again prepare for mask mandates, particularly for travel, and potential lockdowns in the fall.
Always the first in line to virtue signal, Hollywood is at the ready. Lionsgate Films has reinstated its mask mandate in parts of its Santa Monica office following a Covid outbreak. I am not sure how you enforce it in “parts of” the office but nevertheless, most of the Covid guidelines throughout the year have made little to no sense.
Impeccable Timing
What is funny – not funny ha-ha, but funny, ironic – is the timing of the resurrected Covid alarm. The new alarms coincide quite nicely with a highly contentious and tenuous election.
Jack Posobiec, tweeted this morning, “Amazing how Covid is back just as Trump is up in the polls. What are the odds!”
What a perfect distraction from any drama in the White House around the Biden family’s alleged misdeeds.
No doubt, Trump’s failures in handling the Covid crisis early on coupled with, of course, no mention of what he did get right, will be highlighted.
It’s almost as if the script is already written. Oh wait, it is. The question is who is going to follow it?
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor and opinion writer for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics, and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
