CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was a guest on “The TODAY Show” this morning, and she took the opportunity to reassure the American public that there’s a light at the end of the COVID19 tunnel.
Just kidding! She stepped up the fearmongering.
CDC director shares update on spread of omicron variant, now in 33 stateshttps://t.co/q1UpgJxodg
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 14, 2021
Walensky stressed that of about 120,000 cases of COVID-19 currently being reported daily in the U.S., the vast majority of them are still the delta variant, but early data from other countries has shown that omicron is spreading rapidly.
“It is more transmissible, and we’re seeing that in other countries as well, that it’s rapidly becoming the more predominant strain, but I want to emphasize that we have the tools now,” she said about the omicron variant.
What sort of tools do we have in our toolbox? Some pretty good ones, it looks like. But they’re still not powerful enough for Rochelle Walensky’s satisfaction (emphasis ours):
Pfizer said in a news release Tuesday that a clinical trial of its new oral COVID-19 pill called Paxlovid found that it was 89% effective at preventing high-risk people from being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.
“Another great tool in our toolbox, but the first thing I want to say is the best way to protect yourself against COVID is to not get it in the first place, and that is to get vaccinated and boosted,” Walensky said. “If you do think you have symptoms of COVID though, this Pfizer pill, should it move through the FDA swiftly, will be another great tool, but we need to diagnose people early, so if you have symptoms, go and get tested so that you can diagnosed potentially if we have this pill available.”
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Well, here’s the thing: as much as we’d all love to not get COVID19 in the first place, as we’re learning, you can still get and transmit COVID19 even if you’re vaccinated and boosted. Your case will likely be less severe, but you can still get it. That’s how it works with the flu, too. The flu vaccine doesn’t confer 100% immunity, but if you contract the flu after you’ve been vaccinated, you’re likely to experience milder symptoms than you would if you hadn’t been vaccinated.
And you know what? That’s OK. It doesn’t mean that vaccines don’t work.
But if you do contract a severe case of COVID19, it should be encouraging to know that there may be drugs out there that can be highly effective weapons against serious illness or even death. Yet Walensky doesn’t want you to be encouraged. She wants you to be terrified.
Because if you’re terrified, you’re easier to control.
This should be news worth celebrating.
Tho when asked about the finding on NBC's "Today," CDC director Walensky says: "So another great tool in our toolbox, but the best way to protect yourself against COVID is not to get it in the first place." https://t.co/DNfShapPDj
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 14, 2021
From a political perspective, the remarkable efficacy of the Pfizer pill should be seen — at least by political leaders — as a return to normalcy, not "another great tool in the toolbox."
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 14, 2021
Meanwhile, this is the muddled, malaise-filled reality for so many Americans:https://t.co/M6bwIX4nNm
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) December 14, 2021
Is the Pfizer pill a magic bullet? Who can say for sure?
But the idea that we can’t celebrate the development of a drug that could potentially save millions of lives is nothing short of infuriating.
How many tools in our toolbox do we need to go back to normal? https://t.co/qZ13uqh2rv
— Kevin Boulandier (@kevinboulandier) December 14, 2021
Rochelle Walensky is definitely a tool. Too bad she’s not the helpful kind.
Wow! What great medical advice!
The best way to protect yourself from [insert any disease here] is to not get it in the first place.
This is a game changer.
— Cornpop Jones (@CornpopJones) December 14, 2021
Does she not understand how viruses work? https://t.co/J0nBSwEfSz
— KD WIllett (@KenWIllett8) December 14, 2021
How can you prevent getting Covid though?
— Melvin Robertson (@S_W_O_L_E) December 14, 2021
Is she pointing towards bringing back lockdowns and distancing? How else do you eliminate the risk of transmission?
— rob (@job_gyhb) December 14, 2021
We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Which will be never.
She’s so awful at this. https://t.co/ufJ6kqzMEH
— JimmEEE (@EEElverhoy) December 14, 2021
This is a moronic comment by a national “leader.” Where do they find these people? https://t.co/svdxYQZhOH
— Sandwich Lady (@jessepstein) December 14, 2021
Walenski is incapable of reacting to developing situations with any sort of proper thought. Just keep downplaying every single measure so we all stay huddled until covid zero. https://t.co/hzAgxP5rK8
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) December 14, 2021
Walensky saying "the best way to protect yourself against COVID is not to get it in the first place" assumes an end-goal of zero covid. Which is completely anti-scientific. https://t.co/eBYyDR50xW
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 14, 2021
Walensky manages to give the wrong answer every time. Creating an impossible standard to justify a never-ending crisis.
The virus is endemic. We need to learn to live with it. https://t.co/PHLXCwMBFW
— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 14, 2021
The only way to really avoid getting the virus forever is to end all human contact. Otherwise, most people will get it at some point. Just like other common viruses. That shouldn’t be seen as them having done something wrong & shouldn’t prevent people from living normally.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 14, 2021
But the government has had a sweet, sweet taste of additional control over people’s lives. Don’t think for a second that they’re in any rush to give that up.
This is yet another scientific miracle, a blessing of this age (vaccines, therapeutics, etc.) We know so much about how to prevent and treat this illness. Pandemic is essentially over. But our public health leaders, who should not dictate policy, love it too much to let go. https://t.co/DcJJYXYVWc
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) December 14, 2021
How silly that anyone would think this admin is interested in ending COVID. They need COVID. https://t.co/hi8lGNx9nM
— Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) December 14, 2021
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