Main highlights:
- An insight into Joe Biden’s remark on the pandemic
- The scientific proof that Joe Biden provided for his remark
Pandemic won’t be over until it is. According to the New York Times, the Covid-19 epidemic is still ongoing, with over 460 Covid-19-related deaths and over 31,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations occurring on average each day. But American President Joe Biden said to 60 Minutes interviewer Scott Pelley last night? Two times, Biden declared that “The pandemic is over.”
Why may Biden have said something like that? Well, Lucky Tran, PhD, a science communicator at Columbia University and an organiser for the March for Science, seemed to imply that it might have been “ME,” where “ME” stands for midterm elections,If you didn’t know, the U.S. will hold its mid-term elections in November, during which many Congressional, State, and local government seats will be determined.
Could some politicians be trying to say, “see, we took care of the pandemic, things are back to normal, so vote for us in November,” by reducing Covid-19 precautions and creating the appearance that everything is fully normal? That can appear great from a political standpoint, but it is not great from a personal perspective.
Actually, it might wind up making a lot more people ill and bad. People’s lives and wellbeing cannot be jeopardised in order to further political goals.
It didn’t appear that this was just another of Biden’s gaffes, like when he previously mentioned celebrating “the bravery and selfishness” of soldiers or asserted that “there has never been one” Senator from Delaware. No, Biden assured Pelley that the pandemic was over before emphasising, “We still have a COVID problem.
We’re still working really hard on it. The pandemic is finished, though. Biden didn’t ask himself, “Did I say ‘over?’?” right away. I was referring to Sesame Street’s Grover. Sesame Street’s Grover is the epidemic. No, Biden basically went all in, reinforcing his dubious claim despite the fact that it was at odds with, you know, that thing called science.
What scientific proof, to speak of, did Biden provide that the outbreak of Covid19 was over?
He said, “If you observe no one is wearing masks,” and offered the following justification. That, uh, is not an indication of what the virus and the pandemic are truly doing. The virus is silent. Oh, no one is using face masks, so we should just stop spreading, the person said. Isn’t the fact that the Biden Administration and others have virtually removed all face mask restrictions the main reason why people aren’t wearing them?
Isn’t the fact that the Biden Administration and others have virtually removed all face mask restrictions the main reason why people aren’t wearing them? It’s similar to saying you don’t have pimples because you covered them up with cosmetics to say that the pandemic is over since fewer people are using masks. Or maybe it’s similar to telling everyone to pee in the pool and then stating, “See, everyone is peeing in the pool.” Despite the fact that Biden spends a lot of time at the White House, this logic seems a little circular.
Once more, you cannot dismiss this as just another of Biden’s errors. When size doesn’t actually matter, it was one thing for Biden to assert that “There have not been many of the senators from Delaware, it’s a little state.” Saying the Covid-19 pandemic is over incorrectly is a completely different matter. Precision and correctness are crucial when discussing health-related issues. A doctor cannot merely explain, “Oh, I meant that you have a canker sore instead of cancer.” I’m sorry about the chemotherapy stuff.
If you remember, I wrote an article for Forbes in May describing how Holden Thorp, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, had referred to the Biden Administration’s response to Covid-19 as “sheepishly waving a checkered flag over the pandemic.” Yes, this description of the Administration at the time as “sheep” was certainly flattering.
And that was long before Biden declared the pandemic to be gone. This most recent development may increase everyone’s chance of contracting Covid-19, with those who are socially, economically, or physically disadvantaged being particularly more at risk.
The Biden Administration may have acted too quickly once again during this outbreak. Prior to the Covid-19 rise in the summer of 2021, which was driven by the Delta, there was an early relaxation of the face mask requirements in the spring of 2021. Then, in the fall of 2021, additional Covid-19 precautions were prematurely relaxed. This was quickly followed by a Covid-19 Delta surge in November 2021, which was later fueled by the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Remember how the Covid-19 safeguards were prematurely relaxed even more in the spring of 2022, only to be quickly followed by yet another Covid-19 surge. And just now, the pandemic has been prematurely declared to be over. Anything premature can leave a lot of confusion and a very nasty situation, as I’ve previously written for Forbes.
Biden’s statement might have been made at a particularly poor time. As the climate becomes drier and colder, there may be more SARS-CoV-2 transmission. There are worries that the new bivalent Covid-19 mRNA boosters will prevent enough individuals from getting immunised because they will believe that the pandemic is finished.
Keep in mind that the majority of people probably won’t be taking Covid-19 prophylaxis this Winter for the first time since 2019. Oh, and if you believe that the SARS-CoV-2 has cancelled new versions on its own, you are as mistaken as a bedroom gong. We may be due for another one this fall because variations and subvariants have continued to appear every few months. This whole thing might result in yet another Covid-19 spike. Will the Biden Administration’s warnings persuade people to take safeguards in the event of another surge, public health experts wonder?
The possibility of “flu you” is also present. As I recently reported for Forbes, Australia’s flu season was exceptionally harsh, prompting worries about a Covid-19 and influenza twindemic this Fall and Winter.
But isn’t all of that scientific information? And with the midterm elections just around the bend, who cares about science?
