Last week South Africa became the first country to dial back COVID-19 restrictions after it became clear that the Omicron variant was far more mild than other strains, and that it had peaked much sooner than expected.
On Christmas Eve, the government announced that contacts of Covid-positive cases will no longer need to test or self-isolate if they aren't showing symptoms, while those who develop mild symptoms will be required to isolate for eight days, and anyone with severe symptoms will need to isolate for 10 days
Let us remind you that South Africa is roughly 75% unvaccinated.
Three days later, the US CDC made major changes to their Covid isolation mandates - including cutting quarantine from 10 days to 5 days (plus 5 days of masking), and eliminating PCR tests from it's end-of-isolation guidelines. And they swear it isn't because of test-kit shortages and/or their decision not to distribute rapid tests to Americans before the holidays.
Tell us you want everyone to get Covid without telling us you want everyone to get Covid.
JUST IN - UK PM Boris Johnson says "people should go out and celebrate New Year’s Eve" despite a record number of cases (The Times)
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 29, 2021
As a related aside, informed Zero Hedge reader Doug R. notes regarding the CDC's 'substantial' revision in Omicron cases - where they now say it jumped from 3% infectivity to 58.6% of all cases over the course of two weeks (revised down from an even more implausible 73% they first reported): "Sorry, still not buying it. This still implies a level of infectivity that is hard to believe. My guess is the real starting point was it was already in the range of 10%-20% market share, and the CDC completely missed it. In part because it is so mild, but in larger part because they failed at their job of detecting and tracking. Because they are bad at what they do."
And now, Israel is mulling a new 'herd immunity' policy amid a second day of spiking cases.
According to the Times of Israel:
Israel recorded almost 3,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row, according to data released Wednesday, as the infection rate continued to climb and senior Health Ministry officials were reportedly weighing a switch to a policy of reaching herd immunity through mass infection.
...
For the first time, most Omicron infections were recorded in the community, not in people who recently returned from abroad or those they came in contact with, indicating the true figures are likely much higher than the official ones.
...
In light of the lack of immediate rise in serious illness, Channel 12 news reported Tuesday evening that senior officials in the Health Ministry have recently raised the option of switching to a “mass infection model.”
The plan would mirror Sweden's policy in the early stage of the pandemic - which essentially meant doing nothing to restrict the spread for people who aren't in at-risk groups. Israeli officials estimate that within two weeks, Omicron will account for 90% of Covid-19 cases across the country.
Back to Doug R., he poses the following thought exercise: "If Omicron was the original virus, and behaving this way, how would society have reacted? My guess, very differently to how it is reacting now. No global freakout, lockdowns, and NO treatment with vaccinations. It wouldn’t be necessary. But we are now where we are, which provokes an incredibly strong and odd reaction to something that appears so mild, and may be a free vaccine."
Maybe policymakers are finally catching on? Their corporate media wing seems to have gotten the memo.
As I said a few days ago, there is a big narrative shift going on: it is the lead story in the NYT morning brief today.
— Barbarian Capital (@BarbarianCap) December 30, 2021
Now even more evident since clearly the biggest MSM m0r0ns have their marching orders to downplay "cases" https://t.co/QEY1ZHhGRI
