Republicans have pounced on Biden’s recent statement that there is ‘no federal solution’ to COVID.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants…Joe Biden to scrap his ‘useless’ vaccine mandates after he told the leaders of 25 states that there is ‘no federal solution’ to the COVID-19 pandemic, his office said on Tuesday.The Republican governors of Florida, South Dakota, Arizona and Texas plus a host of other GOP figures are calling on Biden to drop his sweeping vaccine order affecting a third of the American workforce, as well as his other nationwide COVID rules, following his comment….Biden notably promised to ‘shut down the virus’ on the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Now just over a year later, the new Omicron variant is fueling another wave of new infections, Biden’s vaccine order is facing legal roadblocks, and his administration’s delayed response in rolling out COVID-19 tests is under fire.DeSantis’ office also recalled Biden’s message to Republican governors in August who were blocking mask and vaccine mandates: ‘Please help. But if you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way.’
Realization is beginning to dawn on politicos and bureaucrats that they can no longer bitterly cling to “emergency powers” after nearly two years of failures in virus containment. The Omicron variant appears to be steadily replacing the ‘dreaded’ Delta variant.
South African researchers said Tuesday a new study has found that people infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus may have developed enhanced immunity to the more severe Delta variant.The Africa Health Research Institute in Durban said its small study involved 33 vaccinated and unvaccinated people. The study found that for those affected with the Omicron variant, their immunity against Delta improved 4.4-fold. The researchers said that protection was enhanced with those who were vaccinated.”These results are consistent with Omicron displacing the Delta variant since it can elicit immunity, which neutralizes Delta making re-infection with Delta less likely,” the researchers said in the study. “In contrast, Omicron escapes neutralizing immunity elicited by Delta and therefore may re-infect Delta infected individuals.”
Furthermore, a new look at the case numbers indicates that the number of Omicron cases may have been initially overestimated. This is good news, and it suggests hospitalizations are chiefly the result of Delta infections.
Agency data shows that Omicron accounted for 58.6% of U.S. COVID-19 infections the week ending Dec. 25. The agency also dramatically lowered its estimate of Omicron’s prevalence for the week ending Dec. 18, from 73% of all cases down to 22.5%.CDC representative Jasmine Reed told Politico that the disparity was a result of the rate at which Omicron infections spread.”There was a wide predictive interval posted in last week’s chart, in part because of the speed at which Omicron was increasing,” Reed said. “We had more data come in from that timeframe and there was a reduced proportion of Omicron.”RELATED Child hospitalizations up 30% in last week as Omicron variant spreadsThe CDC’s model showed that the Delta variant accounted for 41.1% of U.S. infections as of Dec. 25.”Setting aside the question of how the initial estimate was so inaccurate, if CDC’s new estimate of Omicron prevalence is precise then it suggests that a good portion of the current hospitalizations we’re seeing from COVID may still be driven by Delta infections,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted Tuesday.
My first prediction for 2022: We are in for a robust period of COVID-backtracking.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not currently considering recommending a vaccine mandate for domestic flights, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday.”Certainly domestic flights has been a topic of conversation but that is not something we’re revisiting right now,” Walensky said on National Public Radio.Walensky was responding to a question about remarks the previous day by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, that a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel should be considered.
My next prediction: Republicans will pounce so much in 2022 that Tigger may replace the elephant as the party’s symbol.
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