Fauci suggests going back to restrictions. It doesn't go well

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told us that he’s considering retiring. He might be thinking about it even more seriously after he emerged from isolation and went on the Sunday morning shows this weekend, once again offering his assessments and opinions as to how we should proceed as the pandemic continues to wind down. When asked about the recent BA2 variant of the virus, Fauci suggested that it’s more transmissible than the original virus and if it begins to spread widely, the country may need to return to the previous lockdowns and restrictions that were seen in the early stages of the pandemic. The segment had barely finished airing before Ted Cruz took to Twitter to deliver a very firm “hell no” to the suggestion. (Daily Wire)

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On Sunday, after Dr. Anthony Fauci cited the Centers for Disease Control saying that if the United States saw a significant surge from a COVID-19 variant, particularly one that might result in an increase in hospitalizations, restrictions on the public might be reinstituted, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) fired on Twitter, “Hell no. For petty tyrants like Fauci, they only have one tool in their toolbox: authoritarian restrictions. Enough is enough.”

Fauci , President Biden’s chief medical advisor, was speaking to the host of ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos, who asked, “What’s your take on this BA2 variant?

“Well, as was said, it has this degree of transmission advantage over the original Omicron but not a multifold advantage, so it’s about 50 to 60% or so more transmissible, which means, ultimately, over time, it might take over as the dominant variant,” Fauci answered.

To be fair to Fauci, when Stephanopoulos asked him if there was any reason to reverse the recent relaxations of restrictions, he initially said he didn’t think so, at least “not right now.” But he then went on to say that the virus has “fooled us before” and if there were to be a surge in hospitalizations and deaths, “we have to be prepared to pivot and perhaps reinstitute some of those restrictions.”

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Good luck with that. We’ve already vaccinated pretty much all of the people above the age of 5 that are persuadable in terms of choosing to take the vaccines. And the word has gotten out on the streets that the masks weren’t doing much of anything, particularly when the scattershot rules allowed them to be taken on and off during particular circumstances.

A growing majority of people in America are simply done with the pandemic and they are getting on with their lives. Law enforcement agencies in many areas have repeatedly declared that they have no intention of acting as the “mask police” for bureaucrats who try to impose such rules and the authoritarians who keep trying to mandate such policies are probably going to be in for an unpleasant surprise when their next election rolls around.

As we’ve stated more times than I can remember, the CDC should be staying in its lane and simply issuing guidance that’s understandable by the layman. What value all of us choose to assign to that guidance and whether or not we trust it is up to the individual. I haven’t heard one sane person say they want to ban the wearing of face masks or make the vaccines illegal. Everyone is free to mask up whenever they like and get all the boosters their doctors offer.

But Fauci and all of his ilk really need to turn on the news and look at what’s going on around the country. Convoys of truckers are raising hell and protests against the restrictions are becoming more common. If the government tries to turn around and lock everyone down again and convert America back into a medical penal colony, they’re going to have a revolt on their hands. And it’s not going to be pretty.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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