endless loop of covid-19

Many people have a lot to do, the most illustrious Republican lawmakers are on the Hill, but you’re unlikely to win admission by a great public loss and, in the loudest language, claim an anniversary. Knowledge, and a kind of high modesty that does not try to conquer the moment, was what was needed.

There is a lot to win this moment in politics. It never adds up nor helps you win the war. Here I’ll be Irish: A little sweetness can lead to a lot of guilt.

Anyway President Biden won the moment on Thursday but I think it has little effect.

I think that all that will be important in the excavation of what happened on 1/6/21 – and who was behind it – is the January 6 committee, which is set to continue hearings in early spring. There are reports that they may be shown on TV in prime time. If they have the goods, and I hope they do. Only hard facts, not words, will break down the walls of denial that need to be broken.

But that is not the subject of this column, which is on another crisis. We have reached Gobsmac Point in the US side of the pandemic. The present moment is almost the same as 20 months ago. It is not the victory of the government that this is so. COVID tests are few and hard to come by. We are all epidemiologists at home again, studying data online overnight, then from China and Italy, now from South Africa and London. Friends get each other tested at home and debate whether nose swabs should really be used on the throat.

Public-health advisories are confusing and contradictory and their sentiment is not “we must fully inform people” but “we have something to say, let’s try it.” All public-health announcements now sound like hype.

The president spoke to the nation about Omicron on Tuesday, but that speech was thin, heated.

“Get vaccinated. Encouraged. There are too many booster shots. Wear a mask when you’re in public. . . . We have booster shots for the whole country, right? are not being vaccinated for. It still remains an epidemic of illiterate people.”

On testing: “I know it’s frustrating, trust me it’s frustrating for me, but we’re improving . . . Google—Sorry—Google ‘Covid Test Near Me’ To Find The Nearest Site” Where you can test most often and for free.”

I have done it. The page that emerged was filled with the hype we’ve all become accustomed to—the first words you see are “COVID-19 tests are available at no cost in health centers and select pharmacies.” No entry of any difficulty. The first link offered for testing was a private company barking in its automated message that walk-in could not be guaranteed service, and you cannot come if you are showing signs or symptoms of COVID or have been in the past 10 years. Experienced them in days. The earliest the test was offered was in seven days. It seems that Omicron lives for about seven days.

Regarding rapid tests, the president said “drugstores and online websites are being restored.” Of course they are, and by the time the wave passes, they will be fully stocked.

It all seemed so old, especially when the virus has taken such a dramatic turn, with a new version spreading faster than ever, yet more vulnerable than ever. How does herd immunity come about here, what does it mean at this point, how is it defined? I expected to hear.

It may be time to stop picking at the scab that is the vaccination war. At a certain point you cannot patronize and scold people for changing their mind. Persuade but don’t bark and accuse. Should the government have sent pro- and anti-vaxxers out to debate each other from the start – the pro-vaccine argument would have won. I still don’t understand why the humor and warmth weren’t used in government vaccination campaigns, only telling doctors in white jackets that it’s safe, that’s right, do it. Which turned out to be mere and heavily subsidized propaganda.

The president often sounds to me like a person who is trying to understand what the public wants and gets, which in fairness most politicians do. But he and his men are not necessarily good thinkers. On the pandemic, he’s not sure whether he wants reassurance or shared outrage or acting out of a provocative Churchillian pledge—”I’m the one to stop the virus, not the country,” he said during the 2020 campaign. But people know when you’re telling them what you think they want to hear, and they experience it as talking to them. They don’t mind if they think politicians are talking about their intellectual or moral superior, but they often don’t feel that way.

A problem for presidents is that they often take on tics when they try to express resolve or power—a low voice, a whisper in a mic, an exaggeration—that in their political youth were attractive, but This happens less in old age. I always thought in the 2020 campaign that his age was an unintentional advantage: the notion that he should be liberal, there are old people, what else does it mean to be old? As he began to look less medium in his first year, his age decreased.

You know what will move the needle in terms of his pandemic leadership? “I believe that schools should remain open,” he said on Tuesday, and that is good but not enough. The biggest thing he can say to convince American parents is that he was on their side, trying to be serious and end this pandemic well. Put himself and his party in some trouble, late in the game, forcing against teacher unions, the most reactionary force in American public life. He had no shame in showing a selfish, reckless attitude regarding the closure of schools, his fantasies about how uniquely vulnerable he is now, and his joy in flexing political muscles—he himself has spent the past two years. covered in embarrassment. His relationship with the parents won’t last long, if ever.

If the president firmly and uncompromisingly stands up for Chicago, where teachers have refused to work this week, it will be some kind of moment. It will stun the nation’s parents in genuine applause: someone is helping. And finally and in time the unions will have to forgive him; There’s really no other party to go to for them.

I don’t think that will ever happen. And too bad, because it would really move the needle and help the public a lot more than frowns and trembling voices and acting. , , whatever.