So Let's Just Run This Down

We could also just wait until we know more. https://t.co/N5ZhGnzaJ2

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 28, 2021

Sure; why say anything until we know everything? Or at least more? (First: imagine newspapers and TV news adhering to that principle. Newspapers would be published sporadically, cable news stations would go dark for weeks at a time. Come to think of it, we might be better off.)

In interviews, officials keep admitting that omicron (and the current lack of data) presents a messaging bind.

No one wants to sound alarm unnecessarily — but failing to warn about potential risks is a bigger sin in public health, especially if actions now could protect people.

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) November 28, 2021

Per the White House: @POTUS Biden “will have an in-person briefing with members of his COVID-19 response team and Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Fauci to provide an update on the Omicron variant and the Administration’s response.”

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) November 28, 2021

Fear-mongering? I expect an NYT article on why this reponse is bad for Biden.

Notable in this ⁦@jbouie⁩ piece is how Covid has also dragged down numbers of other world leaders. Hard to do Happy Days Are Here Again without Covid being tamed, no matter the country https://t.co/michhBpfiF

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 28, 2021

How about we note Trump was underwater in his approval ratings for four years, and still only lost by 10 million votes (one would have expected him to lose by McGovernish proportions, based on just his approval ratings and how "bad" Biden's are for Biden.)

An extended riff on this from an interview with Fauci. (A shorter version of this quote ran in our story yesterday.) pic.twitter.com/0FQqtLiyHg

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) November 28, 2021

So, you know, if the CDC waits, people will complain they weren't warned soon enough. If the CDC acknowledges the omicron variant is a potential danger, they're fear-mongering. Same as it ever was, but as ever, we have the news media to demand the government make a rational response, which the news media can then condemn, days later, as not strong enough, or too strong, depending on what we know when "we know more."

A more critical reaction to the messaging and press coverage from a former senior HHS official. pic.twitter.com/qkL5Iuh4BQ

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) November 28, 2021

Well, we'd better report that, too! It's not like we don't have conspiracy theories coming out of the woodwork already, right?

A glimpse at how Omicron is hitting in the Ariz gov primary -- this is the Trump-endorsed candidate >https://t.co/pJsZnlYyxL

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 28, 2021

Yeah, I've used that one already, but it kind of brings this discussion to a close, doesn't it? Maybe we should just wait until we know more; or until we've all died of coronavirus and stupidity. Then we'll know more, too. Right?

Covid is the new caravan is the new

— Margie4Toes (@shakashaka9999) November 28, 2021

Yeah, I didn't think that was gonna work.

And is anybody asking the hospitals and the nurses and the doctors what they think?  Maybe they'd appreciate a more robust response this time around, huh?

"As we all know, when you have a virus that has already gone to multiple countries, inevitably it will be here," Fauci said on Sunday. "The question is: Will we be prepared for it?" https://t.co/MadjoeiuBd

— NPR (@NPR) November 28, 2021

On reflection, maybe we could have started there?