Oh My Omicron

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It seems like 2022 just started and while we survived Omicron. We are facing a new variant that is far worse than the alpha version and has outpaced the Delta variant in new infections. BA.2 is contagious and tends to cause more gastrointestinal problems than past variants. Everyone, even the vaccinated, seem to be susceptible to the variant. As Americans wonder about getting a 4th booster shot, hoping that it offers at least a reduction in symptoms or protection, people are beginning to look for answers. The Pandemic has stretched on far longer than anyone anticipated. Remember when this was going to be over in a few weeks? It’s been two years and some people still haven’t left their home. In this post, I wanted to take a moment to think about what has happened with the pandemic and where we are now.

Bad Messaging

The messaging around the pandemic from the government, in nearly all aspects and across two presidential administrations, has been terrible. Dr. Fauci has become a divisive figure who doesn’t seem to know exactly what he is doing and has a difficult time explaining the logic of the NIH and CDC to people. Trump was likely right to sideline him at one point. The Biden administration put him back out, mostly out of his popularity, but it is worth noting that he has been at the forefront of the messaging, and it has been bad.

No one took the time to explain how mRNA vaccines came to be. Instead, mRNA vaccines were promoted as a new silver bullet and could be developed quickly. Americans heard that it was brand new and therefore untested. Most people aren’t aware that the vaccines still had to go through the normal three human clinical trials before their emergency approval. 30,000 people tested the vaccine before it was pushed out to the general population. This was not clearly messaged, which let false reports, data, and theories spread like wildfire online. The government has also not taken a stand against vaccine or Covid-19 misinformation. They could have been more honest about the origins of the virus, especially the lab leak theory.

The lab leak hypothesis was “just a conspiracy theory” until major newspapers began to report some evidence that Covid-19 may have started in a lab and that not only was that lab funded by the United States but Dr. Fauci himself was involved in the funding and research involved. Although it would have been a tough pill to swallow, the CDC and Dr. Fauci could have gotten out in front of the story. Instead, it was buried until it couldn’t be denied any further. We have yet to really get an honest assessment from the CDC on this matter.

Omicron and Passive Eugenics

I’ve seen a variety of people on Twitter say that letting COVID-19 move through the population is passive eugenics. It’s a bad use of the word eugenics, and it’s not indicative of what immunocompromised people and other at risk populations face. It’s a new era for the immunocompromised. Because of the lack of communicable diseases over the past several decades, there are many people who have lived with rather life-threatening diseases. This era is over. I don’t say this glibly, as I am one of the people affected by this change.

As a long-time asthmatic, I’ve had to live fearing colds and flu for most of my life. With my stodgy lungs, flu can last 6 months to a year. The reality for those of us with chronic conditions is that some aspects of life with endemic COVID-19 may no longer be possible. In my life, air travel may be out of the question in the future, or I will have to accept that I will get COVID-19, and it will adversely impact my health. In another day and time, this was common place. When other communicable diseases were more common, people died of them because their immune system was simply not up to the task. Thanks to COVID-19, this is our reality once again. For many of us, this will change how we live and where we can go or what we can do. It will probably become common for people with immune problems to wear masks in public regardless of where they are, even after the pandemic has passed.

Vaccines and Slowing Covid

Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein have come under fire for not signing onto the vaccine and having questions about it. They accuse the establishment, and rightly so, if going all in on vaccines without thinking about other ways we could mitigate Covid. Some have suggested that we all need to collectively lose weight. Vitamin D also appears to be a big factor in Covid-19 infections. UV light has been proven to kill the virus in the air, and air filtration has a big factor in cleaning it from indoor air. A simple HEPA filter can be a big factor in keeping indoor air cleaner. However, none of these solutions are being seriously proposed. One of the best things we can do, as a society, is to mandate cleaner indoor air. It will make everyone healthier and will seriously cut down on Covid. However, this is not a cheap proposal.

If Covid is to be endemic, then it seems to me that we need to get serious about doing what we can to decrease infection long-term. Vaccines can be one strategy, but another strategy includes improving indoor air and stopping the virus before it starts. However, its not just scientists like Heying and Weinstein that are advocating for some sanity during the pandemic. Another popular YouTube doctor is also advocating for something different.

Dr. ZDogg and the Alt-Middle

Doctors have been at the forefront of the pandemic conversation. Dr. ZDogg has a popular YouTube channel and his new suggestion for the politics around Covid is called “the alt-middle.” He has found that the left/right divide is quite tawdry and that neither side is making the proper policies. He did not agree with school closures but did agree with masking. He is vaccinated but has addressed people’s real concerns. He did not agree with social distancing for as long as it went on and talked candidly about risk assessment for different groups of people.

He presented a thesis of living and working with Covid that could well be a guide for the future. Finding ways to do the most good for the most people is basic egalitarianism, but you won’t find such thoughts in the mainstream debate on Covid. Hence, why he has called it, “alt-middle.” It’s a synergy of all the best advice on Covid while letting most people actually get back to their regular lives.

Immunocompromised People

One of the biggest struggles over this pandemic has been the struggle of immunocompromised people. Many people who have immune system troubles are still masking, staying at home, and social distancing. For them, its March 2020 and it always has been. It is very difficult for them to watch the rest of society moving on from the pandemic and leaving them behind. I’ve seen tweets where people feel like the country is willing to let them die. The difficult reality, and I understand this as someone who has a chronic health issue, is that in previous days and times, people like me were often let to die.

Asthma continues to be a deadly disease and before medication arrived, it was often deadly. When it comes to things like Covid-19, people with health issues are going to be affected more than the general population. I count myself as someone in this situation. It’s not fair for me, or anyone with health issues, to expect the rest of the country to live a certain way just to protect us. I know this will not be popular. I’m aware that some people will criticize me for saying this, but it just isn’t fair. Life is full of sacrifices. Parents with small children under five are impacted as well. The best thing we can do at this point is to protect ourselves as best we can and make proper risk assessments.

It has been a long time since people regularly lived with communicable diseases in the developed world. But the reality is that in not too distant past diseases like tuberculosis, mumps, measles, and others were occurring regularly in the general population. It was part and parcel of life, and lives were changed by them. Covid is a resurgence of this very lifestyle. We cannot stay safe from all diseases. It’s simply not possible.

Final Thoughts

The Pandemic has dragged on far longer than anyone anticipated. The simple fact is that we are going to have to learn to live with Covid. China is proving that a zero-covid environment is simply not possible. Even events and cruises are generating covid cases among vaccinated people. Covid is insidious, and it is something that we will have to learn to treat and live with in time. Much like its ancestors, Tuberculosis, Influenza, and Measles, we will have to make risk assessments, create treatments, and change the built environment of society to battle Covid. We are going to have to be in this for the long-haul. It’s a tough realization to come to, but it is one that I have embraced lately.