News/Commentary

‘The worst variant is here’: Mainstream media calls for renewed restrictions in face of coronavirus BA.5

July 16, 2022 | | Print Article

A new COVID-19 variant is currently making the rounds, and the liberal-led media, including CNN, CBS, and ABC, is working overtime to sound the alarms and call for a possible renewal of mask and travel requirements, warning Americans that BA.5 is the most “immune evasive variant yet.”

On Tuesday, White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, who recently recovered from COVID despite multiple vaccinations, appeared on MSNBC to remind the nation that the pandemic isn’t over and we should all get boosted.

“Everybody wants to put this pandemic behind us and feel and hope it doesn’t exist,” he said. “It does.”

Earlier in the week, he went on CNN and declared that “the appropriate thing to do to protect yourself and your family” is to once again mask-up in indoor settings.

It was as though Fauci had delivered marching orders to the media, and Fox News has been keeping score.

On Saturday, the outlet published a list of fear-filled headlines from left-leaning networks and newspapers, some of which make Fonzie’s shark-jumping stunt look like child’s play.

“The rise of a new ‘Deltacron’? BA.5 combines the worst traits of Omicron with the potential for severity reminiscent of Delta, experts say,” read Fortune magazine’s Tuesday morning headline.

“The worst variant is here,” was the somber declaration in one of CNN’s BA.5 headlines.

CNN senior producer Eliza Mackintosh wrote, “Nearly two-and-a-half years since the coronavirus pandemic began, the most infectious and transmissible variant yet has arrived.”

“Repeated  Covid-19 waves have left millions of people dead, with only vaccines helping to blunt the toll,” she falsely stated. “Now the virus is spreading again — evolving, escaping immunity and driving an uptick in cases and hospitalizations. The latest version of its shape-shifting, BA.5, is a clear sign that the pandemic is far from over.”

Another from the outlet read, “Why the Omicron offshoot BA.5 is a big deal.”

The Daily Beast called BA.5 the “ninja” variant of COVID, an “unstoppable” virus that is the “most dangerous yet,” adding that it could be a “preview of the months and years to come.”

Bloomberg asked, “How Bad is the Omicron BA.5 Variant? Bad Enough.”

In a separate post, Bloomberg Opinion stated, “Concerns about cumulative harm, especially to the heart and brain, is reason to avoid getting reinfected.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times carried similar warnings.

And The Washington Post on Thursday “questioned whether it is safe to travel while BA.5 spreads, and health experts who spoke with the paper were unanimous in their belief that social distancing should be practiced and high-quality N-95 masks should be worn on ‘any form of public transportation’ and most crowded, indoor spaces,” Fox News reported.

Meanwhile, on-air segments devoted to BA.5 did their best to deliver viewers dire warnings.

“It is so infectious. You know, it’s on par with the most infectious viruses we as humans have ever seen,” Dr. David Agus told CBS News.

People, he declared, have to “watch out wherever they are.”


(Video: CBS News/YouTube)

Melissa Fine
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