Enough With the Covid!

Two Thanksgivings after the super-hyped omicron COVID-19 variant hardly killed anyone, the Mainstream Infotainment Complex is doing what little it can to drum up more concern over a virus that's mellowed more than, say, a certain PJ Media columnist following a large dinner and a larger brandy.

I don't even know what variant we're on any longer, nor do I care. And I'm not alone, despite the media's best bad intentions.

The Chicago Sun-Times warned on Sunday that COVID hospitalizations are up a big 17% over the last week, but the story neglects to mention one vital detail: A 17% increase over what? If the number were a great big scary one, I imagine they might have published it.

This Times of India story about how the U.S. faces a "COVID winter wave and hospitalization" is adorned with photos of sick (but attractive!) young women, even though the virus typically hits the oldest the hardest. But that Karen-panic isn't going to monger itself, comrades.

Marin County, Calif., which might enjoy one of the worst common-sense-to-money ratios in the entire nation, just reinstated mask mandates through the winter.

And perhaps most (in)famously, former Star Trek child actor Wil Wheaton took to Facebook last week to explain that since "Covid is very much still A Thing, and so is the flu, the common cold, and other respiratory illnesses," he'll keep wearing his N-95 mask everywhere.

This is where Capt. Picard would interject with "Shut up, Wesley," but maybe Wheaton has some comorbidity I don't know about.

The scolds at Vox — an inexplicably popular young adult infotainment site — can't seem to wrap their heads around one fairly obvious question: "Why are so few people getting the latest Covid-19 vaccine?"

Pretty much everybody is running the news that the federal government will again mail out a set of four "free" COVID tests to any household that wants them. When my wife had a bad sore throat a few weeks ago (and a big work meeting to attend), she drove to Walgreens and picked up a test all on her own. It was negative.

Speaking just for myself, I haven't even bothered to get a regular flu shot in three years. I take l-lysine and vitamin C daily, augmented with megadoses of C and zinc when I feel something coming on. I've been sick — during a pandemic — exactly once in all that time.

That isn't to say that COVID doesn't make people sick or even send them to the hospital. It's a flu virus, and it can be a pretty nasty one. But this isn't the COVID of 2020 and, come to think of it, the COVID of 2020 wasn't even the COVID of 2020. We know now — and the authorities likely knew then — that the lockdowns, the closures, the masks, and the government-induced panic were nothing but an overreaction meant to increase government power and spending.

“All of us have fatigue of COVID, and we may want to relax our precautions,” warned Rush Hospital MD Purim-Shem-Tov in that Chicago Sun-Times story I linked above. “I cannot recommend enough to keep your vigilance, keep your hands clean, and if you have to be in an enclosed space, we’re still recommending masks.”

And yet Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has the one COVID-related story that sums up the threat currently posed by the Wuhan Flu: "Health care workers skip COVID-19 shots." According to the report, a survey of millions of healthcare workers at over 18,000 facilities shows a total lack of concern. The CDC found that "just 17.2% of hospital workers overall were up to date with COVID-19 shots" and only slightly higher for nursing home workers at 22.8%.

Nevertheless, the Post-Gazette story begins with one stern warning — "a highly contagious virus that can be fatal" — and ends with another: "'Get the vaccine this afternoon,' Dr. Schaffner said. 'It’s not too late.'"

But if the people who are presumably the best informed and who are probably at the highest risk of contagion are so unconcerned, why should anyone who isn't in a high-risk group be concerned?

I would encourage my fellow Americans to stop listening, but — thank goodness — it appears that by and large they already have.