Democrats, the Biden administration, and health bureaucrats have spent the last two years fumbling their way through the pandemic. Oftentimes, they flipped their messaging on masking, quarantines, and how to contain the virus to suit their political agenda. The arrival of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 proved to be no exception.
Here are seven COVID-related positions Democrats and others on the left have flip-flopped on since the Omicron variant surfaced.
In-Person Schooling
While tyrannical teachers unions are pushing to delay a return to school again following a holiday surge in the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Biden administration decided to contradict its longstanding allegiance to the educators and urge a swift return to classroom learning. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said this week that any learning short of in-person is not acceptable for students who have “suffered enough.”
“Our expectation is for schools to be open full-time for students for in-person learning,” Cardona said on Fox News Sunday, citing scientific data about COVID transmission among school-age children. “There’s a level of urgency that we shouldn’t lose around making sure that our children learn in person.”
This is a sharp turnaround from the administration’s previous fear-induced position that schools should be closed until it is “safe” for students to return.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams also signaled they would keep schools open despite corporate media panic about the Omicron variant of the virus.
Quarantine Length
Just weeks after the Biden administration hinted it would enact stricter COVID-19 protocols for travelers entering the U.S., President Joe Biden said he would be open to shorter quarantine requirements for Americans. On the same day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shortened the quarantine time for people who test positive for COVID-19 from 10 days to five days.
Testing Positive
After months of guilting red states, Republicans, and the COVID-positive unvaccinated, corporate media outlets are scrambling to reassure people who received the COVID-19 shot that there is no shame in testing positive for the virus. The Washington Post published an article on Thursday urging “self-compassion” for the vaccinated who are caught off guard by contracting COVID-19. The Huffington Post ran a similar article claiming that “Getting COVID Isn’t A Shameful Moral Failure.”
During the height of the pandemic, corporate media banded together to criticize and shame southern states for relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and Republicans for promoting a freedom-of-choice culture that contradicts the left’s pro-vaccine-mandate stance. Now, they want to soothe the fears and embarrassment of the psychotic COVID panic crowd who are contracting the virus despite their virtue signaling.
Hospitalizations vs. Cases
Since 2020, health bureaucrats and politicians have used COVID-19 case numbers as an excuse to force people to stay at home and wear masks but the administration’s tune on that case data is changing too.
Dr. Anthony Fauci stopped droning on about rising COVID case numbers this week to note that hospitalization data, not total case data, is a better indicator of how Omicron is affecting the U.S.
“You have a virus that looks like it might be less severe, at least from data we’ve gathered from South Africa, the UK and even some from preliminary data from here in the US,” Fauci said on CNN.
Masks And Mask Mandates
Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis announced last month that he would not reimplement the statewide mask mandate because the COVID-19 emergency is “over.”
“Those who get sick, it’s almost entirely their own darn fault,” Polis said. “I don’t want to say that nobody [will get the virus if they’re] vaccinated, but it’s very rare. Just to put it in perspective, of the about 1,400 people hospitalized, less than 200 (or 16 percent) are vaccinated. And many of them are older or have other conditions. Eighty-four percent of the people in our hospitals are unvaccinated, and they absolutely had every chance to get vaccinated.”
Polis was quickly joined by Connecticut Democrat Gov. Ned Lamont, who said he wants the public to focus on getting booster shots instead of masking up.
Vaccine Mandates
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was routinely criticized for her failed COVID-19 response and deadly nursing home policies, recently said she had not enacted a statewide vaccine mandate due to staffing shortages. The Democrat governor called the federal government’s push for forced jabs “a problem for all of us.”
Boosters
What began as a political push to rush boosters through the FDA and CDC approval process is now a concern for global vaccine shortages. A new report from Politico suggests that the Biden administration is becoming more hesitant about promoting COVID-19 booster shots after reports that an increased demand for jabs in the U.S. could deplete the global vaccine supply for countries still in need of first-round doses.
“Biden officials now fear booster programs will limit global vaccine supply,” the headline states.