One constant during this pandemic is the recurring fear, confusion and controversy as each surge and/or new variant appears. Accordingly, you can almost take your pick of which news stories to believe — either Omicron is a serious threat or it’s not; the vaccines offer good long-term protection or they don’t; and the worst is over or the worst is yet to come.
The whole mutating mess is a litmus test of whether you are an optimist or a pessimist by nature or experience, as well as how much you feel you can trust media reports about these matters.
An additional issue in the age of the Internet, of course, is you can find whatever point of view you wish to embrace out there is the wilds of social media and the endless parade of websites catering to fringe audiences.
For my part, I try to scan as many legitimate media sources as possible, focusing on those that have proven to be reliable in the past, or whose internal fact-checking methodologies I’m familiar enough with to trust that they will usually get things right.
But when it comes to the behavior of the coronavirus and the mRNA vaccines devised to fight it, both topics are still too new and uncertain for anyone to make confident long-term predictions about their impacts. That’s the bottom line.
That brings it all down to trust — trust in the public health officials, scientists, and vaccine manufacturers — as well as in the media to get the story straight and accurate. And trust in all of those parties has been strained to the limit during this crisis. Especially trust of the media.
Restoring trust once it has been broken is a difficult process for anyone. Meanwhile, the variants will just keep coming, and the vaccines will just keep coming, so the mixed messages will just keep coming.
And I can do is to try my level best to parse them day by day as we continue this difficult journey together.
Thank you for reading my daily essays!
THURSDAY’S HEADLINES:
Two years into this pandemic, the world is dangerously unprepared for the next one, report says (WP)
Germany recorded the highest number of deaths from COVID-19 since February, while France registered a surge in hospitalizations after a rise in new infections in mid-November. (Reuters)
Americans’ Pandemic-Era ‘Excess Savings’ Are Dwindling for Many — The drop in cash reserves has vast implications for the working class and could dampen consumer spending, a large share of economic activity. (NYT)
BioNTech and Pfizer said a three-shot course of their COVID-19 vaccine was able to neutralize the new Omicron variant in a laboratory test and they could deliver an Omicron-based vaccine in March 2022 if needed. (Reuters)
Lab results show omicron has ‘much more extensive escape’ from antibodies than previous variants (WP)
Up to one million COVID-19 vaccines are estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used, two sources told Reuters, one of the biggest single losses of doses that shows the difficulty African nations have getting shots in arms. (Reuters)
Amid Push to Vaccinate Children, Other Challenges Deluge Pediatricians — At one clinic serving low-income children, treatment for health problems that have gone unchecked during the pandemic is more in demand than coronavirus shots. (NYT)
The variant has been reported in 57 nations and the number of patients needing hospitalization is likely to rise as it spreads, the World Health Organization said. We look at how Omicron is a wake-up call for vaccine developers. (Reuters)
Omicron has recently been found in wastewater samples across California, and local health officers say it could mark the start of a winter surge. (SFC)
Studies suggest sharp drop in vaccine protection v. omicron — yet cause for optimism (NPR)
More than 100 Los Angeles firefighters have been placed on unpaid leave for failing to get vaccinated against Covid-19. (KTLA5)
Why Washington Won’t Fix Student Debt Plans That Overload Families (WSJ)
How Returning to Office Work Is Impoverishing the Middle Class (Politico)
Three Myths of the Great Resignation (Atlantic)
A swarm of more than 40 earthquakes in 24 hours is causing a buzz in the northwest US (CNN)
Like an iceberg that hides most of its mass beneath the surface, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol incited by former President Donald Trump has quietly gathered far more information than its public announcements suggest. “While we’ve announced roughly 40 subpoenas, the select committee has heard from 275 witnesses," a committee aide said. [HuffPost]
In militants’ hands, drones are a deadly new wild card in Middle East — Since the U.S. killing of a key Iranian general two years ago, Iran-backed militias have acquired scores of attack drones — along with a growing willingness to use them. (WP)
Can Germany’s New Chancellor Revive the Left in Europe? — Olaf Scholz wants to win back workers who defected to the populist far right. Success could make him a model for Social Democrats everywhere. (NYT)
The former child refugee helping Afghan asylum seekers (BBC)
Afghans wait and worry at US bases after frantic evacuation (AP)
Afghanistan: Girls' despair as Taliban confirm secondary school ban (BBC)
Chinese weddings fall to 13-year low as demographic crisis brews (Financial Times)
At the Ukrainian border, Putin stands on the edge of a precipice (WP)
Chile Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage at Fraught Political Moment — The legalization of same-sex marriage in Chile comes as the country grapples with sweeping demands for social change. (NYT)
The West’s Nuclear Mistake — No government that really regarded climate change as its top energy priority would close nuclear plants before the end of their useful lives. (Atlantic)
Hispanic Voters Now Evenly Split Between Parties, WSJ Poll Finds (WSJ)
Visa, the world's largest payment processor, launched a global crypto advisory service for clients such as banks and also merchants, as the adoption of digital currencies gains steam. (Reuters)
China is ‘the world’s biggest captor of journalists’ with 127 detained, report says(WP)
HarperCollins has pulled former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo's book, titled "Deep Denial," after Cuomo's firing from the network. Cuomo’s book was going to be about “the harsh truths that the pandemic and Trump years have exposed about America," according to the publisher. [HuffPost]
A major outage disrupted Amazon's cloud services, temporarily knocking out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, a wide range of apps and Amazon.com's e-commerce website as consumers shopped ahead of Christmas. (Reuters)
A Legendary VC Has a Plan for Solving Climate Change (Atlantic)
State environmental officials will unveil a test proposal this week to feed manatees that are starving as a result of manmade pollution. This is not usually done with any wild animal, but the situation has become such an emergency that it has to be considered, said the Save The Manatee Club executive director.[AP]
What Happened to American Conservatism? (Atlantic)
Lego to Build New Factory in Asia to Meet Rising Demand (WSJ)
Massive planet 10 times bigger than Jupiter discovered orbiting pair of giant stars (NBC)
Last Pickle Delighted To Finally Have Whole Jar To Self (The Onion)
THURSDAY’s LYRICS:
"I Must Have Done Something Bad”
George Jones
I must have done something bad some time in my life
And I paid for it time and again
But this time you've hurt me so bad I could lay down and die
And the pain grows each day ten times ten times ten
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