The Media Wants A Return To 2020 Pandemic Restrictions After Nonexistent COVID Surge

They're never going to stop.

We're a few months away from the end of 2024, four and a half years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a truth universally acknowledged, or nearly universally acknowledged, that the pandemic policies enacted by global governments were a catastrophic failure.

Mask mandates were pointless, harmful, and completely ineffective. School closures were one of history's biggest mistakes, causing learning loss among young people that will set them back an entire generation. Business shut shutdowns achieved little except hurting small business owners at the expense of massive corporations, and necessitating a rolling series of money printing leading to rampant inflation.

Then the vaccine passports started. 

Regardless, those policies have generally, and thankfully, come to an end. Overwhelming evidence, data and scientific studies have confirmed that the Anthony Fauci-CDC doctrine was based on nothing, and accomplished less. But among the fearless media columnist set, there's a desperation to return to the glory days of pandemic restrictions. The latest example coming from an opinion article published over at The Hill, complete with the usual misinformation, poor reasoning, and willful ignorance of current realities.

Continuing the trend that Fauci started.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky on December 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Media Personalities Can't Let Go Of Bad COVID Policies

The column by Aron Solomon makes several absurd arguments, blaming a "recent surge" on "new variants" and saying we "need to take stock of where are" with the virus.

"The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has disrupted summer travel plans, overwhelmed healthcare facilities in certain areas, and left many Americans dealing with the familiar symptoms of fever, cough and fatigue," Solomon writes. "The summer months, typically associated with lower respiratory virus activity, have instead seen a significant uptick in COVID-19 infections."

This is factually inaccurate.

The summer months have traditionally been associated with higher respiratory virus activity in certain parts of the country. The South and Southwest have consistently seen higher COVID spread in the summer months, corresponding with past flu patterns. Even the extremist public health agencies like Los Angeles have acknowledged that summer surges have happened every year since 2020.

But Solomon's run of misinformation wasn't done there.

He then blames the "relaxation of public health measures" with increased COVID spread this year.

"Second, the widespread relaxation of public health measures has created an environment conducive to transmission," he writes. "Mask mandates, social distancing guidelines and restrictions on large gatherings have all but disappeared. This return to normalcy, while massively psychologically and economically beneficial, has provided the virus with ample opportunities to spread."

Mask mandates disappeared years ago in many parts of the country and it conclusively did not matter. Comparing areas with and without mandates has consistently shown that areas with mandates have the same COVID rates, if not worse. Even in California.

It just doesn't matter, because masks don't work.

Solomon then advocates for the return of pandemic restrictions and a "commitment to public health" to combat the summer 2020 surge.

"While much progress has been made in terms of vaccination and treatment, the current surge is a stark reminder that complacency is not an option. The road ahead will require a renewed commitment to public health, both from government leaders and from individuals.

"We all need to prepare for not only the possibility of continued disruptions but for another new normal that might be a little closer to 2020 than how we’ve recently been living. That means preparing for future waves and the long-term implications of a world in which COVID-19 remains a persistent, if manageable, threat."

Beyond the absurdity of demanding restrictions that have already failed, Solomon is ignoring that there was effectively no "surge" in summer 2020, in any meaningful metric. Getting sick, unfortunately, is a part of life. People will have colds, flus, COVID and their resulting symptoms forever. No matter what we do.

But what matters is whether these waves lead to a substantial increase in associated deaths. They conclusively have not. Per the CDC's COVID Data Tracker, COVID-associated mortality is essentially near all-time pandemic lows. 

Roughly 1.8 percent of all registered deaths across the country were even tangentially associated with COVID. Those massive peaks though? Those came with the strictest restrictions of the pandemic, the restrictions Solomon wants to return.

Even the massive increase in 2021-2022 came after vaccines and boosters were widely available. 

But a combination of immunity across a wide swath of the population effectively ended the pandemic. It had nothing to do with any pandemic policies from governments here or abroad. The fact that this is even remotely up for debate is a testament to the power of media misinformation and a willingness from people like Solomon to ignore contradictory information.

There is no emergency, there is no need to reinstate restrictions of any kind to deal with COVID. Especially because those restrictions are useless anyway.