Written by Vincent Cain
Newsom held a press conference on Wednesday to promote vaccines and booster shots. In that press conference, he mentioned that it is unlikely that more lockdowns would come in California. This is coming as the first known case of the new COVID-19 variant was confirmed in San Francisco.
The WHO also skipped two letters in the Greek alphabet to name this variant, one of which was Xi. Surely it is a coincidence and not an attempt to draw attention away from the president of where the original virus came from.
Newsom said, “There’s more panic than information around this variant. Doubling down on what we’re doing is the most important message. We can avoid shutting down our schools or businesses. None of us want to see that happen. I don’t want to see that happen. And I see no indication at this moment whatsoever that that’s in our immediate future.”
The message is similar to President Joe Biden’s statement that the omicron variant is “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” Newsom’s message is wildly different from one he delivered nearly a year ago on Dec. 3, 2020, in which he announced a regional stay-at-home order tied to ICU capacity.
Health experts say the state is in a much better position than last year because nearly 70% of California’s eligible population is vaccinated, and there is a growing supply of boosters. The vaccine, of course, can have adverse effects and is ineffective long-term.
With the emergence of this new COVID variant, it is clear that new variants will never stop coming, making any form of COVID-19 just another respiratory virus, although a more dangerous one.
It would be best for California to do little to nothing over this variant as the state cannot ruin their economy again because of another lockdown.
Photo Cred: Los Angeles Times
