Tipsheet

What NBC News Did with Their Story on COVID Delta Variant Is a Classic Burying the Lede Exercise

The Delta variant is here. Flee for your lives! Except don’t. Variants of COVID were always going to be an inevitability. It’s the liberal media who treat them like invincible pathogens. No, even worse—breaking news. They weaponized it to keep the population scared and pro-lockdown, and then the vaccines rolled out. Cases dropped. The death toll dropped. States are reopening. The mask mandate is gone. The Fourth of July festivities are back this summer in Washington DC. The pandemic is over, but the media is still trying to shove hardcore COVID panic porn down our throats. I don’t consent to that, neither should you. In fact, NBC News’ piece about the Delta variant is undercut in less than seven paragraphs [emphasis mine]:

The so-called delta variant of the coronavirus now accounts for nearly 10 percent of new cases in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The agency on Monday declared the variant, which was first detected in India, a "variant of concern," a designation given when there is increased evidence of factors such as transmissibility or severity or reduced effectiveness of vaccines or treatments.

The change in classification "is based on mounting evidence that the Delta variant spreads more easily and causes more severe cases when compared to other variants, including B.1.1.7 (Alpha)," the CDC said in a statement to NBC News. The alpha variant was first detected in the United Kingdom, and in April, it became the dominant strain in the U.S.

Data for the two-week period ending June 5 predicts that the delta variant accounts for 9.9 percent of cases in the U.S., the CDC said. For the two-week period ending May 22, that figure was 2.7 percent.

Experts who track viral activity weren't surprised by the increase in the proportion of delta cases in the U.S.

"Because [delta] has an advantage in terms of transmissibility, it takes over," said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP at Columbia University and professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. "It's just a matter of time."

The vaccines available in the U.S. are effective against the delta variant, as well as other circulating variants. Two doses are required for the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires just one.

Forget the data. Forget the numbers. There’s nothing to fear if you choose to get the vaccine, but here’s more to the point. Why freak us out about “variant of concern” nonsense and its severity of there are not one, but three magic bullets to kill this thing? Vaccination is always a personal choice, but the fear porn dies now that we have a vaccine. No one is going back inside, guys. Deal with it. COVID is over not matter how many variants arise. The latter is natural evolution concerning viruses. We’ll deal with it. And now, back to enjoying the outdoors and baseball.